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‘Epstein will forever be a loser in people’s minds and Donald Trump doesn’t hang out with losers,’ a Trump insider says. ‘It’s off-brand’ 

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Good morning. I once asked Donald Trump if he had ever turned down an offer to put his name on a product. His answer: coffins. 

It didn’t matter that these were gorgeous, high-end coffins, he explained. He didn’t want his name associated with death. There was nothing aspirational or success-oriented about that. Coffins, he told me, were “off-brand.”

This was in 2007, a year when Trump had his own brand of vodka, steaks, water, furniture, shirts, suits, and ties, alongside the hotels, casinos, golf courses, modeling agency, educational company, and other ventures bearing his name. While the future president may have been battling critics over his net worth and decision to let Miss USA Tara Conner retain her crown if she entered rehab, he was still a media celebrity who was much in demand.

I was interviewing him at Trump Tower on a day when he was giving $10,000 to Wesley Autrey, a construction worker who had jumped on a subway track to save a man’s life. “In life, you have fighters and nonfighters. You have winners and losers,” Trump told me. “I am both a fighter and a winner.”

I thought of that this week after speaking to someone in Trump’s circle about the president’s desire to distance himself from any mention of his name next to Jeffrey Epstein. This associate framed the issue as one of personal branding. It didn’t matter if Trump’s association with Epstein was before the financier was accused of sex trafficking, this person argued. “Epstein will forever be a loser in people’s minds and Donald Trump doesn’t hang out with losers,” they said. “It’s off-brand.”

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Trump threatened to fire Powell, to his face

In yet another affront to the independence of the Fed, President Trump visited the central bank’s HQ to look at the renovations happening there and jokingly said he would fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He also falsely claimed that the construction bill at the building had risen to $3.1 billion, before Powell set him straight. There is an awkward video of the encounter here. Context: Dan Ivascyn, chief investment officer of Pimco, which manages $2.1 trillion in assets, told the FT that “any attempt to reduce independence would be very bad for markets.”

Trump reminded Musk he can still hurt him

The bickering between the world’s most powerful man and the world’s richest man continues. Yesterday, Trump posted “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so! I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!”

Trump said he initially wanted to break up Nvidia

With CEO Jensen Huang sitting in the audience, the president joked that his first instinct was to break up the U.S.’s most advanced semiconductor chip maker. Video here.

Vanguard investment chief cools on U.S. stocks

Vanguard  chief investment officer Greg Davis told Fortune: “Our investment strategy group’s projection is that U.S. equity market returns are going to be much more muted in the future.” He warns. “Over the past 10 years, the S&P returned an average of 12.4% annually. We’re predicting the figure to drop to between 3.8% and 5.8% (midpoint of 4.8%) over the next decade.”

Volkswagen takes tariff hit

Quarterly operating profit at the automaker dropped 33% after the company ingested €1.3 billion in increased costs from U.S. trade tariffs.

Ray Dalio issues new deficit warning

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is, again, sounding the alarm about national debt, this time warning of a coming “economic heart attack” if it isn’t addressed. “What you’re seeing is the debt service payments … squeezing away, so it’s like plaque in the arteries squeezing away buying power,” he recently told Fox Business.

Microsoft’s Nadella on layoffs and the “enigma of success”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent a memo to company employees on Thursday describing why the company has laid off about 7% of its workforce this year despite Nadella himself describing the company as “thriving.” In the new age of AI, Nadella describes this as the “enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value.”

The markets

S&P 500 futures were flat this morning, premarket, after the index closed marginally up at a new all-time high of 6,363.35 yesterday. Tesla declined 8.2% yesterday after a lousy earnings call. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.34% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.39% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.88%. China’s CSI 300 Index was down 0.53%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.18%. India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.86%. Bitcoin fell 2.76% t $115K.

From the analysts

EY-Parthenon on Fed independence: “Political pressure remains a growing risk to Fed independence. Reports that the administration is exploring ways to remove Chair Powell—potentially invoking a legally fragile “for cause” rationale—have unsettled markets. Even if such efforts don’t materialize, the perception alone could erode credibility and increase risk premia,” per Gregory Daco.

ING on home sales: “New home sales were annualised at 627,000 in June, well short of the 650,000 figure expected. Coming after yesterday’s disappointing existing home sales figure, which dropped to 3.93 million from 4.04 million in May, it heightens concerns about the property market, and by extension, housing construction,” per James Knightley.

Wedbush on Tesla: “Musk & Co. aim to have autonomous ride hailing in half the US population by the end of 2025 including Unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use in some US cities by late 2025 with plans in place to expand Robotaxis across Florida, Arizona, California, Nevada and more,” per Daniel Ives et al.

Around the watercooler

​​Inside the $99 million luxury wine scam that fooled over 100 global investors by Lily Mae Lazarus

Arizona woman in North Korean IT workers scheme sentenced to 8.5 years for helping to trick Fortune 500 companies out of millions by Amanda Gerut

Stanford dropout Sam Altman says college is ‘not working great’ for most people—and predicts major change in the next 18 years by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Walmart–yes, Walmart–says AI agents are its future by Jason Del Rey

Bryan Johnson is hiring a CEO for his company, Blueprint, so he can focus on living forever by Eleanor Pringle

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read global insights from CEOs and industry leaders. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.



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SpaceX to offer insider shares at record-setting $800 billion valuation

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SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company. 

The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said. 

Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.

Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares. 

“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. 

The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.

News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.

Subscribe Now: The Business of Space newsletter covers NASA, key industry events and trends.

The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.

Elite Group

SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public. 

An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc. 

If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.

A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.

SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020. 

However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”

The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.

Read More: How to Buy SpaceX: A Guide for the Eager, Pre-IPO

A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.

SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.



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National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

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The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.



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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.” 

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

Read More: Trump’s National Security Strategy Veers Inward in Telling Shift

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway. 

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies. 

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”



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