podcasts / Pivot / episode
Pivot cover art
podcast
📅 2026-10-27 ⏱ 65 min episode · ~2 min read 📝 Transcript · 12,509 words

Anthropic's IPO Filing, Elon's Talarico Obsession, and Elizabeth Holmes' Box Office Surprise

Pivot · · Transcript & summary by WhipScribe

It is a fast, opinionated read of Anthropic's IPO numbers from two hosts who separate the accounting noise from the real growth.

In this episodeKara SwisherScott GallowayAnthropicDario AmodeiOpenAIElon MuskSpaceX StarlinkJames TalaricoBarack ObamaElizabeth HolmesNathan FielderAmanda Seyfried

▸Chapters

Tap a chapter to open that moment in the transcript; the link to it is copied for you.

Transcribe your links. Paste a YouTube, Google Drive or podcast link and WhipScribe gives you the transcript. Transcribe a link →

▸Notable quotes

“$443 million to a trillionaire is $443 to a millionaire.” Scott Galloway · at 21:50 — open in the transcript →

▸What this episode covers

The core of the episode is Anthropic's public filing. Revenue jumped from $1.2 billion in the first half of 2025 to $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, and Scott Galloway calls it the fastest-scaling software company ever. He argues the headline loss of about $81 billion is mostly a one-time accounting charge from converting bonds into shares, credits OpenAI for more conservative revenue booking, and lists the risks: regulation, public distrust of AI, power supply, hundreds of billions in compute commitments, and rivals such as Nvidia and Meta. His guess for the listing is roughly $2 trillion. He also reads out the filing's own warnings that advanced AI could pose catastrophic risk.

Elon Musk's reach is the second thread. Musk has now put more than $445 million into Republican groups this cycle, including over $12 million aimed at Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, and Galloway scales that sum to what $443 means for a millionaire, arguing for campaign finance reform and a 40% minimum tax on realized gains. Musk's admission that SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink access draws Galloway's sharpest charge, built on a Charles Lindbergh analogy. Around this sit midterm notes: Barack Obama's mocking stump speech, a Justice Department suit over Alaska's Senate count, and student-led votes in Serbia.

The lighter close covers You Can See Everything, the Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim film on Elizabeth Holmes that has grossed $45 million on a $7 million budget. Kara Swisher praises Amanda Seyfried and calls Holmes a familiar tech type, while Galloway questions her 10-year sentence. Recommendations include The Mosquito Bowl and season three of Nobody Wants This.

▸Key takeaways

01Anthropic's IPO filing shows $16.3 billion of revenue in the first half of 2026, up from $1.2 billion in the same stretch of 2025.
02Scott Galloway says $72 billion of Anthropic's reported $81 billion loss is an accounting charge from converting bonds into equity.
03Anthropic's revenue per employee reached about $6.6 million, up from $1.4 million a year earlier and ahead of every Magnificent Seven firm except Nvidia.
04Galloway warns Anthropic's compute commitments of $400 billion or more only make sense if revenue keeps growing about tenfold a year.
05Galloway expects Anthropic to go public at around $2 trillion, a price he calls cheap next to SpaceX if growth holds.

▸Questions this episode answers

Q1What did Scott Galloway say about Anthropic's IPO filing numbers on Pivot?

Scott Galloway called Anthropic the fastest-scaling software company in history. By his reading of the filing, revenue went from $386 million in 2024 to about $4.5 billion in 2025, and the first half of 2026 alone brought in $16.3 billion, an annual pace near $40 billion. He still disliked the adjusted profit measures and noted Anthropic books the full value of token sales where OpenAI books only its share.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q2Why does Scott Galloway say Anthropic's $81 billion loss is misleading?

Scott Galloway told Pivot listeners to look past the roughly $81 billion net loss in Anthropic's filing, because about $72 billion of it is an accounting charge. When convertible bonds turn into shares, the company must book that conversion as a loss even though the debt disappears from its balance sheet. He argues that a business growing four or five times a year at high margins should reach real profitability.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q3What valuation does Scott Galloway predict for the Anthropic IPO?

Scott Galloway guessed Anthropic will list at about $2 trillion. His reasoning: if revenue runs near $40 billion this year and grows five times rather than ten, that is around $200 billion of sales, so $2 trillion is about ten times forward revenue, which he says looks cheap next to SpaceX. Kara Swisher added that the listing comes after the midterm election.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q4What did Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway say about Elon Musk restricting Ukraine's Starlink access?

Kara Swisher said Elon Musk's admission that SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink access confirmed what the hosts had long claimed, and that the week-long disruption hurt military operations. Scott Galloway compared it to Charles Lindbergh being able to switch off the guidance systems on bombers sent to Britain, called Musk a traitor to the West if the reports hold, and predicted Congress will haul him in after the midterms.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q5How does Scott Galloway explain Elon Musk's $445 million in political spending?

Scott Galloway scaled Elon Musk's more than $445 million in Republican donations to his wealth: for a trillionaire it is like $443 for a millionaire, the price of a good dinner to protect a business. He wants campaign finance reform, an end to Citizens United and at least a 40% minimum tax when billionaires cash out gains to spend. He also argued political money now buys less than it did a decade ago.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q6Why does Scott Galloway say Barack Obama's ridicule of Trump works for Democrats?

Scott Galloway said Barack Obama understands what the rest of the Democratic Party does not: mocking Donald Trump lands harder than indignation. He credited the Obamas with careful brand management and estimated Obama adds 10 to 15 basis points to every Democrat running. He warned that a midterm win would reflect voters disliking Democrats less, not a mandate, unless Democrats follow up with bold affordability plans.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q7What did Kara Swisher think of the Elizabeth Holmes film You Can See Everything?

Kara Swisher found You Can See Everything, the nearly three-hour Elizabeth Holmes film by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, riveting but tricky, more a thriller-like movie than a traditional documentary. She said Amanda Seyfried deserves an Oscar and that Holmes resembles many tech figures she has covered: no accountability, cast as the victim. The film has grossed $45 million in two weeks on a $7 million budget.

Open this answer as its own page →

Q8Does Scott Galloway think Elizabeth Holmes deserved a 10-year prison sentence?

Scott Galloway said probably not, and Kara Swisher agreed, though both called Elizabeth Holmes guilty. Galloway argued male founders who committed similar fraud often get lighter sentences, and that Holmes was jailed largely because powerful investors felt cheated. Holmes's husband once emailed him about joining an effort to get her released early, which Galloway declined.

Open this answer as its own page →

▸Transcript

Our own transcript of the public episode, with a timestamp about every 90 seconds. Tap a timestamp or the link button on a paragraph to copy a link that opens this page there.

0:00Support for this show comes from Pega. AI is full of possibilities. Enterprises run on realities. That's why Pega combines the world's most powerful AI with governance, transparency, and control enterprises demand. So you can move faster, adapt faster, and scale AI with confidence. All the power of AI, none of the uncertainty. Learn more at pega.com slash AI. Support for this show comes from Bill. When it comes to managing money, forget the hype and look at the results. Bill has a trillion dollars of secure payments powering their BillPay tools. Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly a half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with The Proven Choice.

0:49Ready to talk to an expert? Visit bill.com slash proven to get started and grab a $150 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. Support for the show comes from Inside Blackstone. offer page for details. and investors tell it to you straight. Get an inside look at the technologies transforming industries and the big trends shaping the economy. The goal of the pod is simple, engaging conversations that make complex topics more accessible. Tune in every Tuesday and subscribe to Inside Blackstone wherever you get your podcasts. Are you getting enough Karen Scott in your life? We think not. So we're launching a newsletter for our super fans to get even closer

1:44to us and to each other. Starting this week, you can sign up to get the pivot post delivered to your inbox. We're going to respond to your letters. Pivot fans are so smart and thoughtful. And every week we get incredibly substantive questions about business and tech news. And we don't have time to respond to it on the show. The newsletter will be a place for us to answer those queries directly with the help of some of our expert friends. If you have a burning question about a trend in business, tech, or finance that we can help answer, send it to pivotpostatfoxmedia.com. We know you have other questions too about parenting, careers, dating, and mating. Keep sending those our way and every now and then we'll take a break

2:16from explaining the news. To also answer your advice questions, we cannot be held responsible for any of the outcomes if you follow Scott's suggestions for your personal life. Our first newsletter will drop next week, but you can sign up now on our new website at pivotshow.com. That's pivotshow.com. Her husband in this is quite the villain, and you get to see his penis. Will that attract you to it? His penis is in the movie? Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. What did you do this weekend? I'm going to tell you what I did. I went to Michigan. Did you go to a football game? I went to the parents' weekend.

2:54Me and Louie and Megan and Alex went to a football game. Oh, that's nice. We had such a good time. The Big House, it's called. And it was wonderful. We had a great weekend. I took Louie and Alex to a steakhouse. Alex ate a steak as big as like your head, essentially. And we had a great time. We had a lovely family weekend. It was very nice with our son at Michigan. It was very sweet. Do you want to know what I did? Sure. Yeah. I did the exact same thing, except at another great public university. I went to Parents' Day at Parents' Weekend at UVA, first Parents' Weekend. Yeah. And just to be serious for a moment, you know, it's this such, and I'm sure you feel this way, but there's this quiet, unspoken of cohort of families where the kid goes off to college and right away it comes off the rails.

3:49Like we've had friends who, for whatever reason, got upset. They didn't get into a sorority. They miss their parents. They're overwhelmed by being away from home. And it's really too bad because I think especially among wealthy parents, the general view is the only track to being happiness and purpose and reward involves college, not recognizing that two-thirds of kids don't end up with a traditional Bachelor of Arts. And it kind of brings the whole household down. Parents Weekend, as I did, and your kid is doing good academically, not great, because he's doing great socially, and it's just having such a good time, you have what I describe as Parents Weekend is like this 48-hour exhale if it goes well. It's like our son is thriving. Our son is making

4:41friends. Our son is learning about himself. And it's just so rewarding because you do hear stories of kids who, you know, haven't been away from home and kind of their first couple months are rough. And sometimes they leave. It can be. Yeah. I didn't have that experience with either one of my boys, but I still have two more to go. But I just loved being I loved being there. It was so nice. Oh, it's so much fun. I'm not a big football fan, but it was a really good game. It was much closer than they thought. And just being, you know what I was thinking? It sounds crazy, but I was sitting in that stadium. It was 111,000 people in this, in the big house. And this, it was against Indiana. And first of all,

5:27Indiana fans and Michigan fans got along fine. And then everyone literally was all together. I know it sounds like I'm singing. And for some reason, I was like, oh, I love America. Because it was like all of us, it was such diverse crowd. It was so, everyone was getting along. Everyone was having fun. It was just like, there was no internet. There was no Elon Musk. There was no Donald Trump. There was no noise, And it was really nice. Like it was a beautiful day. And I know I'm being like, oh, you know, whatever, but I thought it was great. We went to a UVA football game. Let me be clear, a UVA football game versus a Michigan football game is like a German PBS documentary compared to a superhero film. I mean, no one does college football like

6:09Michigan, unless you go into the SEC. Or unless you're Indiana, which beat them. Yeah, but go to a BAM again. Big 10. There's a Big 10 my son's explaining to me. But all of a sudden, it was me, my son, and his mom. And all of a sudden, he put his arm around us. And I'm like, oh, my God, he's finally coming back. And that wasn't it at all. They put their arms around each other and sing the college song when they score a touchdown. And I'm like, I should have known better. The guy hasn't put his arm around me since he was four. But it was incredibly rewarding. And you get to speak to all these parents. I can't even imagine. So me and my son, we get recognized a lot. I can't even imagine. Yeah, we did too.

6:52What celebrities LeBron and Irving Villachez have walking around the Michigan campus. You guys must look so ridiculous together. A lot of fans. A lot of fans came up to me. Oh, my God. So if people don't know, my favorite memory of Alex was when Kara and her wife and Alex came down. And Alex was young, but fully formed as in a monster. We were watching some shitty documentary that Amanda made us watch about librarians and uproar over something. But you're a guest, so we agreed to it. And Alex came over, and he sat down. And I'm not exaggerating. Everyone else on the couch went up two feet in the air. We're like, whoa. He's a big man. I know. It was great. Anyway, we have to move on. But I have to say the best part was also that Louie and Alex were together, and they were bro-ing it up.

7:45Yeah, I'm going to take my youngest to go see the UVA. My heart was so big seeing the two of them. UNC game. Just being good brothers together. Anyway. That's nice. It was really fun. Anyway. What was the weather like? Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Really? It was like 70. It was fantastic. I'm moving to Michigan now because it's not cold. You may just slow your roll. Go to a basketball game in February and take a stroll outside. I am going to go back. Anyway, we have to move on, but it was great. I do want to, at the end, talk about, did you, have you seen this Nathan Fielder movie yet? I have not as hard as you. You need to see it. I'm going to talk about it at the end. Anyway, we've got a lot to get to

8:21today. So let's dig in. There's so much. I mean, we've got the anthropic IPO. We'll get to that in a second. But it's a leader, this is a big deal, just conceded defeat to a student-led opposition movement. This was exciting. Israel is also going to the polls this week, voting over their Netanyahu gets to stay in power. It looks like he's not going to, but who knows, talk about what these elections, something's coming. I don't know what it is, but it's going to be great. Well, I mean, you can read it either way. I don't know how much of a litmus test Brazil is, because Brazil has compulsory voting. And also, while it looks like the populist or the more progressive is going to take the election, the son of someone incarcerated

9:26looks like they're inheriting was the equivalent of the MAGA movement. So you could, I think, interpret that other ways. The most encouraging thing is what's come out of, is it Serbia? Serbia, Serbia, yes. And that is, I think young people are the immune system here. I think young people are saying, look, there's a variety of things plaguing the world right now. But if you look at what's going on in France, if you look at the election results in Serbia, I think what has happened is that young people are saying, we're sick of old people voting themselves more power, more ability to engage in corruption, and voting themselves more money. And this was a student-led electoral victory. Now, unfortunately in America, young people don't show up to the voting polls. They get a Robinhood

10:10account and start trading crypto. I'm not sure. I hope we see an uptick in young people voting. That'll remain to be seen. But loosely speaking, if you had to be reductive about it, you would say that there is a pushback on corruption that is being led by young people who are fed up with not only corruption, but a lack of affordability. And also what, for example, in France, the statistic that is just sort of, I think, rolling over the world right now in a variety of measures is the following. In France, a third of the education budget goes to paying the pensions of retired teachers that are no longer teaching. That is just not sustainable. And I think young people have kind of... Now, granted, there'll be opportunists

11:01and just thugs and just people who are angry, who will join in and take advantage of it and are anarchists. And, you know, that's unacceptable. But the kerosene waiting for matches of different flavors here is the notion that there is a corruption scandal across the world right now. And the young people feel like, okay, enough of using my credit cards so you can keep going to Mazatlan. I don't know. It was really interesting. At the game, the mission game, it was all Abdul stuff, vote Abdul. It was not a single Mike Rogers sign anywhere, which was really interesting. And I know it's, but it's not, I can't say Michigan is as liberal as in that particular school is necessarily, but it was interesting. But you're right. I think, but I do think young people are engaged politically much more so than you think. I think you're seeing it.

11:52I hope so. And I hope they do vote, but I think they are tired of older people sort of running the table for them. Now, it'll be interesting to see what happens in Israel. And if this government, if Netanyahu loses, if the new person can form a government. Form a coalition. Yeah. Very difficult. Election Day almost doesn't matter in Israel. It's their ability to kind of play chess, which Netanyahu has been a grandmaster of to form coalitions. Right. And unfortunately, the way he stayed in office is by forming coalitions with very far right, ultra-religious groups. I've been watching that election closely. I mean, obviously, I'm more focused on this one. A lot of protests going on. But that is a really important one.

12:29Yeah. Led by students. Students. Yeah, that's really interesting. And we'll see where we're going. You are seeing the numbers here move in, again, the Democratic's direction. Let's talk about that. Former President Barack Obama is back. He hit the campaign trail this weekend, accusing Trump of bringing chaos and cruelty and corruption to the country. Nice bunch of C's. He even channeled his inner Logan Roy saying administration officials like Pete Hegseth are, quote, not serious people. Obama then took a shot at Trump's White House makeover. Let's listen. I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV. The guy's building a ballroom that's bigger than the White House.

13:16It's paved over the Rose Garden, put a helicopter pad on the south lawn, and there's gold everywhere. What's up with the gold? Everything, more gold. He's got the white ass looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. You've got to miss him. I've got to say, he is funny. But, you know, he did this for Kamala. It didn't really work, but was sort of on a roll. Meanwhile, election officials around the country are preparing for potential federal interference in the midterms. There's already cause for concern in Alaska. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit at Trump's request seeking to block certification of the Senate race. If the Republican incumbent loses, it's because of the name.

14:01It's ridiculous. Attorney General Todd Blanch says Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape or form, which is precisely what he's trying to do. And of course, Elon Musk is pouring even more money into the midterms. He just gave another $76 million to his PAC, bringing his total contributions to Republican groups this cycle to more than $445 million. The PAC has spent more than $12 million attacking Texas Democratic James Tallarico. And Tallarico is pushing back against Elon. Let's listen. Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants our taxpayer dollars. And he wants his very own personal United States senator. He is trying to buy Texas. But on November 3rd, we're going to deliver a crystal clear message to the world's first trillionaire. Texas is not for sale.

14:52He's been using this line all over the place. So let's start with Obama. Thoughts on this? He's going all over the place. Again, he did this for Kamala. It was not effective. I think Saddam Hussein, it's as if Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. It's sort of the line of the midterms. And what Obama gets that the rest of the Democratic Party doesn't get is that ridicule is more powerful than indignance. Or being righteous, right? Yeah, outrage. Right. And that is, you know, comedy is a strategy. Outrage is a hobby. And he's just very powerful. He doesn't come across as mean or Trump derangement syndrome. He just ridicules the guy. We don't have anyone like him. And what he does is he creates an atmosphere where he comes in late. He is very few people understand brand management like the Obamas.

15:54They are very, very crude and manicured in terms of their appearances, who they associate with, when they say and when they don't say, and they're smart to hold back until the very end. What he does is he probably adds 10 or 15 bips to every Democrat running. And that's powerful. He's not going to save a bad candidate, but he might, he quite frankly just creates, he's another, you know, couple million gallons of water forming a wave. Now, how big, you know, again, it's the candidate more than anything, but he provides cloud cover. And what this also means, I mean, going forward, the thing I'm most worried about is November the 4th. Yes, you and Hillary Clinton. Yeah. I really hope the Democrats don't mistake this. This isn't a blue wave, it's a red riptide.

16:38And what it comes right down to is if we take the Senate and the House, be clear, it wasn't the Democrats are back. It's just that for this moment, the American public decided they hate Democrats less because Democrats are not polling. And if the Democrats and Speaker Jeffries don't immediately move to a series of bold proposals about affordability, restoring a progressive tax structure, taking away the anxiety that Americans feel around health care insecurity, more sanity around our foreign policy, specifically our tariff policy. We're going to find out that, yeah, they had a one-night stand with us, but they're not interested in having a relationship with us. Right. They've got to follow up. They will. And they also have

17:21to worry, this is something Hillary Clinton brought up last week, is let's worry about what he's going to do between now and January when they have to seat this new Congress. He's going to try all manner of hijacks. He's already trying in Alaska. He is. But he'll continue to do so, and he'll get more and more possibly demented because he really is. With someone who covers him closely, I was like, well, maybe this will finally shut them up. And this person was like, absolutely not. It's going to get worse, worse and worse. Yeah, but I will say this. So far, the way I see it is when I was building, when I was renovating a home, our neighbor basically found out he didn't want construction while he was there.

17:59So he came up, he hired a lawyer and just got in the way of development and showed up to the local review board and said we were threatening the manatee population. Anyway, just literally tried to obstruct it. But eventually, at least in Florida, eventually you get to renovate your house. And that's because the law kind of weighs in. And you can delay and obfuscate, but you can't change the law. I think so far, so for example, Cal State has Democrats, it puts them at 76% chance of winning the seat in Alaska. And that's, Trump carried Alaska by 13 points in 24. In other words, I think all this bullshit attempt to interfere in the elections, I'm not saying it's not important. I'm not saying we

18:41shouldn't be worried about it. I'm not saying we shouldn't push back on it and have lawyers at the ready. But I do think ultimately, the person with the most votes, and this happened in 2020, that our democracy did hold. What is unfortunate about it, and what Sacha Baron Cohen was talking about, is I love the term shared lies. And what he said that really struck me, and what's kind of the longer lasting thing about this is that if you were in the bubble that those January 6th rioters were in, were they really guilty? Yeah. Because they thought they were being patriots. They did. leaders don't have a series of shared truths. It's becoming the Republican strategy, the Republican acceptance speech, or the Republican post-election speech is one of two things. Either

19:32I won or it was rigged. And that just can't continue. They're going to have to. They're going to have to move on. They really are. I do think if it's a convincing enough defeat that they will turn on Trump immediately, if not sooner. They've got to get him in the rearview mirror and move on in many ways. They can't keep holding on. By the way, you know, he's already pretty demented these days. And with those little outbursts he has, those noises he makes, I think they've got to move him way off screen as much as they can. That said, Elon Musk continues to pour money, and I suspect he'll do the same for the presidential to try to get J.D. Vance made president. This money is staggering, Scott. head around it. So, okay, first off, $440 million,

20:33a staggering amount of money. It has an impact. It has a lower impact. The ROI is going down, and I'll come back to that. But to give you a sense for that and how until we overturn Citizens United, our democracy is going to be whittled away one cut at a time. It just is. To give you a sense for what that means, he's a trillionaire. So $443 million, oh my God, what a staggering amount of money. Okay, let's put it in relative terms. You're a millionaire. You're worth a million dollars, okay? And if this group of politicians gets elected, it might get in the way of your car wash. And so you'll do anything to keep this representative out of Congress because they don't like your car wash because your car

21:20wash they have deemed is bad for America. And you have government contracts and you're getting tax credits. So, all right. And your state. That's why he's so demented against Tallarico, obviously. Look, you're a millionaire. This candidate is an existential threat to your ability to stay a millionaire. Let's just not even go to politics. Would you be willing to spend $443 on the campaign? That's what it is to him. $443 million to a trillionaire is $443 to a millionaire. So for the cost of a really good dinner, if you saw huge advantage and leverage to you getting one candidate elected over the other, would you spend $443? Absolutely. So the question is, and I now believe this, I think we should let our trillionaires cook.

22:18I want them to make a lot of money. But on one side, you have to have campaign finance reform. And two, I do think much more progressive taxation protects us from this type of corruption. There's really nothing good from someone becoming a trillionaire. And people will say, well, he's smarter than us on business, granted, or most people on business, and he deploys capital in incredible ways that benefit the economy. I'm not suggesting he shouldn't be allowed to make trillions. I'm not suggesting he shouldn't be able to invest it and take the CapEx right off. I don't want to decrease his genius or his investment. What I'm suggesting is when he decides to take the money and recognize that gain

23:02and do things such as spend it on a boat or spend it on a political campaign, which is not tax deductible, before he does that, it should be taxed at a minimum AMT of 40% and possibly more than that. Okay. I agree. Okay. Okay. Shut the fuck up. No, this is something you've been saying. I can't believe that the Democrats, this is something Democrats could win on. They've had enough money. They have enough money and they're now fucking with us. And I think it really is, it is coalescing people, the amount of money he's giving. You know, he's sort of become the Bond villain of our country. And I think especially with Tallarico, the obsession, the obsessive, you know, he doesn't even have Natalie Harp to write those for him.

23:45And just like on and on and on. There were like 20 of them in a row in one evening, late into the evening. And the reason he, of course, is going for Tallarico is because all his stuff is he moved to Texas to get away from people. By the way, California helped him a lot, but they just- What do you think? But they didn't like one thing he did. And so he had to leave in a big old flounce. Now with Tallarico in Texas, he's going to have a problem. Cara, he left for taxes. I get that. He left for taxes and to get a bunch of subsidies from a government. I get it, but now he's very upset about a Tallarico-led Texas. Anyway, we'll see what happens, but it's an enormous amount of money for an unaccountable trillionaire to be able to spend. Okay. So the Democrats have vastly outraised Republicans in terms of number of people

24:30and under-raised in terms of the amount of money. Why? Because there was regulatory capture among billionaires and thinking, oh, these guys will wash my back. They'll scratch my back. So I'm all over them. The silver lining here, and I think this is a reason, I have a lot of reasons why we should vote blue. This will send a strong message that the market, I think the market is starting to gag on money. What do I mean by that? Just as if you pour too much money into any one asset class, the returns go down. $440 million just 10 years ago could have got one president elected over the other in a close race. Now, it might not even get a senator in Texas elected. So, you're going to see, and this is a good thing, the bottom line is this is the full local TV station

25:25employment act. Right. Yeah. Like, you know, these- Yeah, which is owned by conservatives, which is kind of funny. But local TV stations lose money for basically 44 weeks a year. And then the eight weeks before the election, they make it all back and more. And election, people who make the data, et cetera. In swing districts. Everybody. Anyway, good luck, Elon. I hope it turns out like it did in Wisconsin. Okay, Scott, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Anthropic takes the next step toward going public. How exciting. Support for the show comes from Framer. If you want to create a website that looks great, feels handcrafted, and comes together fast and seamlessly, then look no further than Framer.

26:06It's a complete website platform, not just a builder, so teams can launch and keep improving their sites in one place. It helps creators, teams, and businesses ship production-ready sites faster than ever while getting every detail right. You're able to prompt, inspect, edit, and publish in one place at a whole new pace. On Framer, agents and humans work in tandem. Agents bring speed and scale, while people bring taste, judgment, and control. And that all takes place in the same workspace where the real site is designed, managed, reviewed, and published. Those ideas land on the canvas, stay editable, and can be published when the team is ready. Framer is an enterprise-level solution. Thousands of businesses, from early-stage startups

26:44to Fortune 500s, are choosing to build their websites in Framer, where changes take minutes instead of days. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash pivot for 30% off a Framer Pro annual plan. That's framer.com slash pivot. Rules and restrictions may apply. Support for this show comes from Quince. There's nothing better than that sweater. You know the one. We all have it. It's perfectly warm and you can't help but reach for it again and again as the weather gets cooler. If you don't have one yet, there's probably one on Quince's website with your name on it. Quince makes elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and premium stretch denim. The designs are

27:29timeless, thoughtfully crafted, and made to be worn again and again. The 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters start at just $50, giving you the softness and quality you expect from a luxury brand without the luxury price tag. I am about to get a ton of Quince items because I'm going to be wearing them on the upcoming Pivot Tour. But right now I am actually using my cardigan because it's which I love from Quince. It's very comfortable. It's so soft and the weather's starting to get cooler. I also have an amazing blazer. I use a black blazer that is just, it looks rich. It isn't expensive at all. So find the fall pieces you reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now

28:11available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was Pivot. It's the best way to support the show. Support for the show comes from Harvey AI. It starts with a handshake to people find common ground and shake on it. A word becomes an agreement. An agreement becomes a contract. A contract becomes bound by law. For centuries, law has made our promises durable. Agreements are how we live side by side, settle our differences, build businesses, and move forward together. Today, Harvey, the AI platform designed specifically for legal work, is writing the next chapter of that legacy, helping lawyers handle those agreements more effectively and bring their expertise to more people.

28:49Harvey is trusted by more than 3,000 customers across 70 countries. More than 200,000 lawyers, 80% of the AMLA 100, and 20% of the Fortune 500 are all building with Harvey. They're accelerating review, sharpening negotiations, uncovering insights, drafting first responses, and more. And they're doing it all in one secure place built for legal teams. This is how the future of agreements is being crafted now. Learn more at Harvey.ai. Harvey does not provide legal advice. Users should always independently review and verify any output from Harvey. Scott, we're back. Anthropix officially filed its IPO, which everyone knew was coming. Let's go through some of the details. The company's revenue has skyrocketed, bringing in $16.3

29:37billion in the first half of 2026, up from just $1.2 billion a year earlier. But the company reported an $80 billion net loss in the first half of the year. This had been reported previously. Anthropic has committed more than $600 billion to future cloud computing deals. Five of the company's customers accounted for about a quarter of its revenue for the first nine months of the year. Ninety-four pages of filing are spent on risk factors, with the company warning investors about rogue AI models and the opposition to data centers. Anthropix co-founders, including CEO Dario Amadei, would retain a combined 50.1% of voting power. The company hasn't yet revealed how much it plans to raise or its offering price.

30:18It's a really interesting situation. And by the way, at the very same time they're doing this, Elon is trashing data centers because, of course, he's in the data center business and he's trying to kill all the other neoclub businesses. But talk a little bit about Anthropic. Look, it's staggering. It may be the fastest scaling software company. It is the fastest scaling software company in history. So effectively, let's just talk a little bit about the numbers. So what it shows is, okay, revenue in 2024 was 386 million. In 25, it was four and a half billion, so up 12x. And so far this year in the first half, it's clock 16, so call it an annual rate of 40. So it's 10x-ing in 26. So first half, so it basically 14x-ed its revenue

31:04from the first half of last year. I've been trying to sort through the numbers. They called it a net loss of $81 billion. Ignore that because $72 billion of that loss was the accounting loss you have to take when you take a convertible bond and convert it to equity. Yes, explain that. They borrowed money and then they turned it to equity. So an incredible innovation in the debt markets is something called a convertible bond, where you pay them kind of a below market interest rate, but you have the opportunity to convert your debt into equity if the equity goes up. And so it's a chance to kind of have the downside protection of a bond. The company gets cheap capital, which it can pay back in cheap equity if the stock goes up. It's a great innovation. But when a debt converts to equity, which is kind of a good thing for everybody, shareholders

31:47get a little bit of dilution, but you take the debt off the balance sheet, you no longer owe that money. And then debtors get to participate in that sweet, sweet returns of a growth company. But when it converts, you have to take that as an accounting loss. The actual conversion from debt to equity, if it's a billion dollars in convertible debt that converts to equity, you have to recognize that billion dollars as a quote-unquote accounting loss. So the numbers I've sussed out is basically it did 25 billion and lost nine. But if it's growing four or five X at high margins, it should be able to get to profitability. Now, they've done a bunch of like, you know, hocus pocus to try and show that they're sort of profitable. I hate this fucking adjusted EBITDA shit. So, for example, what Anthropic does and OpenAI doesn't to their credit, Anthropic books the full revenue of a token sale, whereas OpenAI only takes the 20% that they recognize because

32:46the rest goes to the neoclouds and stuff like that. There's just no getting around it. This company is scaling unbelievably fast. This is anecdotal evidence, but quite frankly, the permissions I get from Claude Cowork have probably, in my opinion, been the greatest innovation for me in terms of a change in my life since Uber. So let me ask you, what's the problem? What are you worried about? Like be the- Oh, there's tons of risk here. Besides AI rogue, obviously. Okay, first off- Government, government regulation. If the government can't come up with some sort of regulatory policy that lets these guys understand the rules by which they're playing by and gives the public some type of certainty for what is going on here or not going

33:32on here, the IRGC figures out a way to just hack a light signal at a busy intersection and then blames it and then spins up their bots and blames it on AI, you know, states are going to start banning AI models. People are scared of this shit right now. And people don't trust it. 75% of Chinese trust AI, only 25% Americans. There's an existential risk. Americans hate it. It's not just not like it. They hate it. The terms are very, you know, it's really interesting to see the attitudes. Everyone was saying that the scarcity was around chips. It's not, it's electrons. It looks like it's power. There is huge risk around the levels of capex they have to make. And if these things don't keep 10Xing, all of a sudden those, I added up anthropics commitments to 400 billion. People

34:22are saying it's six to 800. I don't know how they got to that math. But regardless, unless they keep 10Xing, which they are doing right now, someone's going to go, uh-oh, the math doesn't work. And then competitive risk. NVIDIA is talking about taking their GPUs and putting them directly on a client, a phone, which quite frankly might leapfrog LLMs. And then you have Meta with its own LLM that is free, that is number one in the app store, that has a direct relationship with half a billion businesses and 3 billion consumers. There are threats everywhere. But the reason there are threats everywhere is this is a blue whale that, and there are orcas everywhere thinking, how do we take this thing down?

35:09But the blue whale is 10x-ing right now. It's interesting. This is like, it's the Google, essentially, is how I think of it. Like, is it the Google versus anything else? And where will it go? And I think the issues are, what will happen to the open AI? IPO posts this, depends on what it does at the same time. If it doesn't have as impressive a bottom line here, they're going to have a real problem. And then what do the big companies do? What does a Microsoft do? What do the rest of them do? Because there is a precariousness that I think Elon was pointing out, which is all these neocloud businesses are going to go belly i call them guppy guppy level extension or something i forget something with guppies um but uh but and he's talking his own

35:51book because he sells compute himself it's that's how he's making money he's not making money in people using it as much as it is renting out his space and so it's important to him for these things to happen it's all sort of it feels a little jenga like some of this there were it's important to him for these things to happen. It's all sort of, it feels a little Jenga-like, some of this. A lot of circular deals, but let me just, I'll go back down. Consumers are using it. Consumers are using plot. Well, let's talk about those numbers. Yeah. I hate this, but it's adjusted measure. It made $1.6 billion in operating income and a half. It's a 10% margin. In a year earlier, the margin was negative 159. Let's see what happens when they actually start accounting for it in a rational, mature way, but I still think the growth, growth kind of cures all problems. Computing infrastructure costs were $9 billion in the first half. That's already more than the $7.3 billion it spent in all of 2025. But still, you can't get around the fact that Anthropix revenue growth and efficiency has been incredibly impressive. Get this.

36:45Get this stat. Revenue per employee is about 6.6 million. That's up from 1.4 million a year earlier. So the efficiency here is remarkable. By the way, that's greater revenue per employee than every MAG7 member except NVIDIA, and it'll probably surpass NVIDIA's revenue per employee. So well-run. This is a well-run company, much better run. They don't have that. I mean, this is the nightmare. This is the nightmare for politicians and for citizens and for college grads and the dream for shareholders. They don't employ that many people. And their revenue is up 1,400%. Their employee count wasn't up 1,400%. They didn't 15X their employee base. And this is what is so... I just can't get over. This is how

37:35every board meeting in a growth company works. The CEO comes in and says, we're going to grow revenues 12% next year, 14% next year. That's like a modest growth company. Adding headcount of, yeah. Which means I need permission to hire another 8% employees or increase my employee base 8% or 10%, which will increase earnings 15% to 20% next year. And we go right at it, have at it, brother. Meta, two years ago, or six earnings calls ago, said, oh, we increased revenue by 23%, and we did it with 20% fewer employees. That should have sent shut... That literally, all of a sudden, and no one likes to talk about this, if you use the term AI in a board meeting, they expect the next sentence to be, I'm going to do more with less. And when I say more,

38:22I mean more revenues and less employees. And this is what Anthropic is showing. Yeah, 100%. Okay, last question, so we got to move on to the next topic. What is the valuation in November when it goes public? Well, it'll be looking at, I'm trying to think what their 27 projected numbers will be. If they're at a run rate of 40, I think it goes out at $2 trillion because I'm just – $2 trillion. My Greek lands are going here. If it's doing 40 this year and they think they can not 10x it but 5x, that's $200 billion on $2 trillion. That's 10x for a 12-months rate. I mean, that looks cheap compared to SpaceX and some of these other guys. Yeah. And let me say for everyone, it's coming after the election.

39:07The Democrats just got a lot of new donors because this is not a MAGA group of people. Let's just say it'll be interesting to see where they deploy their political capital when going forward. And speaking of how you deploy your capital, Elon Musk is finally admitting that SpaceX restricted Ukraine's access to Starlink. You think? This is what Scott and I said he did. He's claiming Ukraine violated Starlink's terms of service by using it for offensive drone strikes to kill people, which Ukraine disputes. But Elon also said Starshield is a different system controlled by the U.S. government, and what they decide to do is up to them. It's, again, a bunch of lying. Ukraine says Starlink and Starshield are now operating at normal speeds after more than a week of

39:49disruptions that impacted military operations and led to the deaths of people in Ukraine. That incident, again, reminded people how much power this guy has and whether they'll do anything at all about keeping him in check. I'll also note Musk also reportedly invested about $1 billion in David Ellison's Skydance. They need the money. But guess what, Scott? I'm leaving! Sorry, I just had to say that because I know you like it. Though they're trying to get me to stay again. They're trying to get me to stay. Oh, my God, here we go. I'm telling you, they're trying to get me to stay. It's all economic. The costs of you leaving are minimal because you make a lot of money on a podcast with a jar head.

40:29I get it. I'm just telling you. I was surprised because I keep yelling. I'm surprised too. I'm surprised they want you to stay. I know. I don't know why. Maybe David doesn't know. But we can make very quick. Look, we said he was lying about it. He was lying about it. He is in a position to influence battlefield decisions, and he shouldn't be. Trump seems to be out of it or lying. Either one, not good. Neither choice is good. And Hegseth doesn't seem to be anywhere here, should be the one having decision-making power here. Who knows? And an unaccountable trillionaire should not be making these decisions. I don't know how else to say anything. Anything to add? You know, I'm very excised about this, so I want to talk about it. But I just briefly want to

41:15return to Anthropic for a moment. Just in the risks section of the S-1, I just want to highlight some of my favorite things. Open quote, advanced AI could pose catastrophic or existential risk to humanity. Yeah, I know. That's my favorite. Our AI models may behave in unintended, misaligned, or autonomous ways. They could blow us up. Capabilities may advance more rapidly than our ability to develop, validate, and implement safety measures. Okay. That means your product shouldn't be out in the public, folks. Right. Anyways. So, Musk. Speaking of an unguided missile.

42:48I'm shocked he's not spending more because I can't imagine the first person that's going to be hauled in front of Congress on November the 4th is Elon Musk. And for all of his lawyers, he's not going to be able to avoid that for very long. Because imagine Charles Lindbergh, a hero, an innovator, an idol. He was on the side, to be fair, as a lot of Americans were. And they said in World War I, it wasn't worth it. The Jews wasn't worth the squeeze for us. That's their problem. Now they want us to send our young men back. Let's partner with Hitler. He's not that bad. a military business version of McDonnell Douglas, and FDR started converting DC-3s into bombers and giving them to Churchill to try and stave off fascism. But there was a guidance system

42:54on these DC-3s. And what if Charles Lindbergh had the ability to remotely turn off the guidance systems. And all of a sudden, London was burning because they didn't have the ability to deploy their defensive bombers. That has happened here. What would they have done in the middle of the last century if they found out that a private citizen was purposefully throttling back the defense capabilities of who the American public supports and considers an ally in the defense of a murderous autocrat. So this is nothing short of, in my opinion, and I've used this term, if what went down here or what was alleged to go down here went down here and unilaterally Elon Musk decided to throttle back Starshield slash Starlink such

43:53that they could not launch defensive drones and our ally has been weakened strategically and there has been civilian deaths, then in sum, he is a traitor to the West and our government is at fault for not putting in place guardrails such that one person who is not elected can have that type of power over history. Why do you think he admitted it this week after lying about it, essentially? I think he's going to have to go before Congress. And I think his lawyers said, no, no, no, no. Stop tweeting that you didn't. You're going to have to go in front of Congress and either say I lied or lie again. And you don't want to lie in front of Congress. So come out of the closet now. There's a ton of noise. This is a huge story. This would be the biggest scandal of any decade if it happened in

44:39any other decade. Right. Yeah, I agree. But they're like, there's a ton of noise, midterms. Just put it out now. Just put it out. You throttled it back. Say you were confused or you didn't know or you don't like Celeste. Whatever it is, take your medicine now because you are going to be hauled in front of Congress. Yep, they are. That is something. And it's by the way, it's bipartisan. There's Republicans speaking up about this. There's not. It is not just the Democrats gunning for him. It is every it's lots of people. And by the way, it's global too, FYI. And he's starting to see problems in Canada and Europe, and he's fighting with India. This man can't, he's literally, this is not going to end well, any of this for him.

45:17But, you know, he's got a lot of money. He's going to keep spending it. All right, enough of Elon. Let's go on a quick break. When we come back, audiences are flocking to that new Elizabeth Holmes documentary. Support for the show comes from Gusto. Nothing is more relatable than postponing that one tedious task plaguing your to-do list. For a lot of business owners, that's probably payroll. Gusto is here to take it entirely off your plate. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. Automatic payroll, tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers comp, 401k, you name it. Gusto

46:01makes it simple. They have options for nearly every budget. You get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. They've got plenty of built and automated tools designed to help you save time, like offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, you don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash pivot and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash pivot. One more time, gusto.com slash pivot. Support for this show comes from Shopify. If you have a great idea for business, don't let another year go by without acting on it.

46:47Shopify can get you up and running fast. If you move quickly, you could even have your business launched in time to take advantage of Black Friday. Shopify helps launch a store and start selling in a few simple steps without needing to be an e-commerce expert. And sidekick, Shopify's AI assistant can help with business tasks along the way from store setup to planning promotions. Shopify's prebuilt themes and AI site builder can make it easier to create a professional storefront. And Shopify's mobile app lets you manage key parts of your store from anywhere, including inventory, customer support and payments. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide from household names to small businesses

47:25just getting started. Launch before Black Friday, a time of year when more people are already shopping and ready to buy. If you're ready to launch your business for Black Friday, go to shopify.com slash pivot to start your free trial. That's shopify.com slash pivot. Go to Shopify.com slash pivot today to hear your first. Support for this show comes from NPR's Machine Gods podcast. AI news comes at you nonstop, but what does any of it actually mean for you? Machine Gods from NPR helps you make sense of it. It's hosted by my friends, Kevin Roos and Casey Newton, two of the best tech journalists on the beat. Well, except for like me. They give you unmatched access to the industry and they're fun to listen to too. Casey and Kevin take an AI realism approach. They report on AI as

48:16it is. They don't cheerlead for it or panic about it. The show explores what AI means for work, for life, and for all our futures. Weekly episodes mix interviews and industry news analysis so you can be in the know from all the angles. And you don't need to be an AI expert to listen to Machine Gods. It's made for smart, curious people who want to understand what's happening without the hype. Because regardless of how you feel about AI, we can all agree it's important to keep yourself informed and you might as well be entertained while you're at it. That's exactly what Casey and Kevin are committed to doing. Listen now to Machine Gods in the NPR app, wherever you choose your podcasts. And Kevin and Casey, thanks for the money.

48:53I'll spend it well. Scott, we're back. A nearly three-hour documentary about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes gave a comic book movie a run for its money this weekend. You Can See Everything, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, was the second highest-grossing movie at the box office, just behind Clayface. The film has now made $45 million in two weeks, the biggest debut for a non-musical documentary since Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 in 2004, and it cost just $7 million to make. It's also generating Oscar buzz, possibly becoming the first documentary ever nominated for Best Picture and maybe picking up an acting nomination. I'm going to spoil the movie, so just deal with

49:42it. And by the way, this has been written about a lot, so I'm really not spoiling it. But listeners, skip ahead now if you don't want to hear it. I have some thoughts. I liked parts of it. I didn't like other parts. He's full of trickery. This is what he's known for. I put something out that I said, one, Amanda Seyfried is the best thing ever in this movie. She deserves an Oscar. Secondly, Elizabeth Holmes reminds me of every tech person I've ever met, constantly denying account, what we just talked about, denying accountability, lying through her teeth, committing all manner of criming and acting as if she's the victim. She is sort of the distillation of every single bad tech person I've met.

50:27And by the way, she maybe shouldn't be in jail compared to them. She absolutely should be in jail, but maybe they should be too. But you can have that as a separate debate. It's a really interesting movie. I suspect there's a lot there. I think he's playing with them. He's well known for that. He's pretending he's on their side a little bit. Who knows where he is because he's such an interesting filmmaker. I don't usually like his stuff, but I tell you it is riveting and it's really interesting about identity and lying and truth in this society. So that's what I have to say about that. But the fact that it's making so much money, Scott, I mean, people are sitting through, this is a three-hour movie.

51:08This is not a short movie. My showing last night was packed at an Alamo Drafthouse in Crystal City, Virginia. That's how, I wasn't able to get tickets except for there. And I barely got those. Alamo White House at Crystal City, Virginia. Alamo Drafthouse. In case anyone forgot, you're wider than a snowflake. Well, it was the only place I could get tickets. It was crazy. But it's really popular. I love Alamo Draft House. I know. We had a good time. I'm bored. Bring me a beer. Bring me some sliders. It's the dark, so I can't see what I'm eating. Bring me some of those. I love ordering cuisine in a movie theater. Then you know you're in for some fine dining. Yeah, it was actually not bad. Nonetheless, this is interesting that people are sitting through in a theater.

51:51The theater stuff is going really well for it. And I think that in and of itself is an interesting phenomena. Any thoughts on why? I don't want to see the movie. But it's, as you said, second biggest opening ever for a documentary behind Fahrenheit 9-1-1 in 2004. And per theater, it's outperforming Clayface, which probably spent 10 times that. Clayface. Which is supposed to be good. Yeah. Costs $40 million to make. This cost. Seven. This cost $7 million to make. It's great to see. I'm super excited. The documentary, I'm super excited to see. I want to see the documentary on the guy who skied down Everest. I think it's called Everest. That looks really cool. But it's nice to see documentaries having their time in the sun. The only thing I'm sure of about this. So I've told you, it's not easy to feel sorry for Elizabeth Holmes. But it struck me that the only reason she's in jail is because her board got very, very angry and felt like they were taken.

52:47She took a lot of money from a lot of rich white guys. Rich, powerful white guys. Yeah. Anyways, the only thing I'm certain of is what her punishment should be. Her punishment should be a staring contest with Kash Patel. And I think both their heads would blow up. Oh, that's funny. She's been sucking up to Trump and trying to get out a pardon earlier. By the way, that's the humor. I think his name is Josh Johnson. I think that. I need to start crediting these communities. Okay, you need to credit people. I'll tell you this. It's not a documentary exactly. It's something else. It's a drama. The music is used. It feels like a thriller. It feels like a movie. And by the way, by the end, it's not clear what you saw. So it's not the documentary in the traditional sense of that, you know, it's laying out a case. It's something, it's a mindfuck of, I'd say it's a movie. And you have to see it that way versus anything else. And for everyone online who says to me, don't you understand Nathan Fielder?

53:49He's fucking with you. I do understand it, people. I understand his genre. I think he's a very talented filmmaker. I would recommend seeing it, Scott, if I were you. I think you would enjoy it because it's a movie, not a documentary. I find her and the sociopathy she represents just uncomfortable. And my sense is all of these men have just become such fucking idiots in her gaze. Like all these older men she seduced to invest or be her boyfriend. Her husband in this is quite the villain. And you get to see his penis. Will that attract you to it? Well, that depends. Yes, exactly. It's a weird color, I have to say. It's rather large, but it's a weird color. His penis is in the movie? Yes. Somehow, I don't understand why it's there,

54:38but there it is. I think you would like it. I have to say, it's not a documentary in the traditional sense. It is something else. I just don't, I just, I also get who she is because she's just like a lot of the people I've covered, which is without accountability, completely acting like a victim and a stone cold liar. And that is what I, I did walk away from it. Do you think she deserved a 10-year prison sentence? Probably not. Agreed. Like, I don't know. But nonetheless, I think she's did walk away from it. Do you think she deserved a 10-year prison sentence? Probably not. Agreed. Like, I don't know. But nonetheless, I think she's guilty, guilty, guilty. Yeah, I think she's guilty too. And listen to like Tyler Schultz and others who went out on a limb,

55:17and John Carreyrou. She's a grifter, and so is her husband is a massive grifter. And I have to, I want to see it again because I want to see if I think that Nathan Fielder has been tricked by them or he tricks them by pretending to be tricked by them. It's very much an origami of a movie. And you should see it. But Amanda S. is fantastic. That's why you should go, Scott. I love Amanda Seyfried. I think she's a great actress and hot. Not just that. She is a. I think she's a great actress and hot. Not just that. She is a great person. She's a great, she is part of this movie and reenactments and stuff like that. And let me say, she starred in the Hulu series about Theranos, The Dropout, if you remember.

56:00It's like really scanned my emotions. I think the reason I don't want to see it is I'm traumatized looking at her and the way she talks. She looks at people the same way my ex looked at me when I ordered fries after she said she wasn't hungry. Oh, that's funny. It's not that funny. You're not laughing. It's a little funny. You know what she does a lot and is a trick is whenever she's talking to you, she shakes her head. She's like a car salesman. She looks like my youngest when his mother asks if he remembered to take the chicken out of the refrigerator. He looks at her like, why would I deceive you? Of course I did. I know it's still in the refrigerator. She just freaks me out. I do not want to become

56:42a tractor beam into her gaze. I just want to see the Amanda Seyfried parts. It's worth it for Amanda Seyfried. That's it. And it's not about Elizabeth Holmes. It's about Amanda Seyfried and the crazy ex-husband. I mean, husband, not ex-husband. He's her husband. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's reached out to me a couple of times. What did he reach out to you about? Nothing untoward. He heard my comment. I've made comments several times that I get that Elizabeth Holmes is not a sympathetic character, but it just struck me that there's been the line between fake until you make it and fraud is getting increasingly blurred in Silicon Valley. And it just didn't sit with me that they seem to have absolute, the public, the media and court

57:32seem to have no problem putting away someone for 10 years and she just happened to have ovaries. To me, it just struck like, okay, one of these things is not like the other. And that a lot of the male founders who I think have done very similar acts of fraud, they seem to get lower prison sentences. Now, having said that, someone would come back directly contradicts what I'm saying. But anyways, I have said, I have shown some, I don't call it empathy, but I have talked consistently about there's something that doesn't sit right with me about her sentencing. Now, so he reached out to me and said, basically, I appreciate your kind words. Would you like to get involved? Would you be interested in getting involved in a movement to try and get her out early?

58:27And I'm not. You know, I think that the courts have made this. Maybe looking for money. They're trying to revive Theranos 2.0. No, I don't think it was coming to me for money. I think he generally wants to get the mother of his children out of prison as soon as possible. That's the sense I got. But it was a very, very minor email exchange. Yeah. Well, stay away. Go see this movie. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't mind hanging out with him and providing some comfort to his friend, Amanda. She must be quite upset about all this. She's not his friend. Anyway, one more quick break. We'll be back for Wins and Fails. Support for the show comes from Constellation. and data. Operating coast-to-coast, Constellation's fleet combines 26 nuclear reactors with solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and lower-emission natural gas to deliver around-the-clock power while avoiding roughly 125 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. Explore how Constellation is advancing reliable energy for America's future at constellationenergy.com.

59:48This holiday, switch to the Simplicity Plan from Verizon. It's one plan, one price. Just $30 a line per month for you or the whole family. And on their best 5G network. Switching to Verizon and shopping their best deals makes the holidays simple. Head to Verizon.com or your nearest Verizon store today. If you're looking to hire, you need Indeed. With Indeed sponsored jobs, you can spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

1:00:46Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. Okay, Scott, let's hear some wins and fails. Would you like to go first? So my win is, just in terms of media, I watched something called I'm I haven't seen a war movie that I didn't like. There's a new war movie out screenplay and directed by Peter Berg, who's, I think, a great a great artist or a great filmmaker from Imagine Entertainment called The Mosquito Ball. And it's it's an American war sports drama. And it's based on the 2022 Buzz Bissinger book, The Mosquito Bowl, A Game of Life and Death in World War II. It's about a gameplay during World War II. And it's essentially these four top American football players were enlisted in the

1:01:41United States Marine Corps after the attacks on Pearl Harbor while preparing for the Battle of Okinawa. And most World War II movies are about the European theater. And this just shows just the brutality and cost of war. It's well done. These things are very hard. It's very hard to recreate battle scenes and do it well. I don't think anyone's done it as well as Steven Spielberg did in terms of his depiction of the landing on Omaha, but this comes pretty close. And it's also, Berg and Grazer also collaborated on Friday Night Lights, which was another great sports film. Anyways, I think war movies are really a really good reminder for people like me who have a tendency to be a bit more war hawkish of just the real costs that we outsource. Mostly, not all, but mostly in terms of combat to young of 100 people and 40 of the men die,

1:02:47the village survives. If 40 of the women die, the village goes out of business. So especially in a society where young people don't have as much opportunity, we find wars for them. I don't think that's true with America in most instances, but you see the brutality of war up close, and they do a good job. It is a very difficult thing to recreate. Anyways, my win is the movie, The Mosquito Bolt. I really enjoyed it. somehow involved in the scaling up or scaling down of Starlink or Starshield, and we found out that that individual had throttled back, a private citizen or someone in the military had throttled back the capabilities of Starlink, what would we do? And why is it any different from Elon Musk? If the CEO of Boeing figured out a way to inhibit the defense mechanisms and defense, if the head of Northrop Grumman, if we found out the CEO had throttled back the guidance systems on our nuclear submarines, what would we do to that CEO? How is this any different? We have normalized the standard of behavior

1:04:09and given the mother of all dangerous hall passes to people because they are billionaires. And this cannot continue. And if he got permission from the president, then the president needs to be held accountable. But the CEO of Boeing is not allowed to throttle back military aircraft mid-flight defending our allies. And that is exactly what happened here or appears to have happened. So I'm super excited. I'm hoping there's going to be a blue wave. I've been bringing on candidates. The vibes are pretty good. But on November the 4th, these candidates have to do a couple of names we've been talking about over the last few years who are under the impression that they're immune from all this shit.

1:05:08But absolutely, my fail here is America has normalized a private citizen becoming the most powerful person in terms of military technology and potentially the fate of the West. Haul this person in front of Congress. Haul him. Bring him in on a dolly. All right, my win. You know, I was traveling a lot in the last couple of days and I ended up watching Nobody Wants This and I didn't love last season. It's in its third season now. I thought it was kind of silly. I liked it at the beginning. It's on Netflix. I think this season is wonderful. Nobody Wants This? Yeah. It's a little too... And it's not because of the main couple, which is Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, who are perfectly fine. They're like, he's a little too, and it's not because of the main couple, which is Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, who are perfectly fine. They're like, he's a rabbi, she's a goy, they're never going to get together. Nobody wants this. And it's a very solid comedy, stuff like that. But there are two characters in this. Justine, I think it's Lupe, or Lupe, who plays Morgan, and Timothy Simons, or Simmons, I think it's Sim or Lupe, who plays Morgan, and Timothy Simons or Simmons.

1:06:06I think it's Simons, plays Sasha. They're the brother of the man and the sister of the main character, woman. Have the most beautiful relationship. He's from Veep. He played the really tall guy, the obnoxious guy on Veep. He's supposed to be a wonderful man also. Oh, he's amazing. He's hilarious on V. This guy, he was on, what did he play? What was the name of the character he played on V? Jonah. He played Jonah, Jonah on V. He was amazing. She played the wife of the dumb brother who was, I think, a prostitute on Succession and she was great there. The two of them together are one of the most lovely friendships. I suspect it's moving, I haven't watched the whole thing, to romance. But the way they interact as a man and a woman, it's really refreshing. And I think

1:06:49they're just the most lovely pairing. I'm sorry if I mispronounce their names. My fail has got to be the executives now trying to suck up to Democrats. I am getting a lot of incoming from companies now. I think they're suddenly very worried about what's about to happen. And they're worried about looking like assholes for sucking up to Trump, really, pretty much. And so they're making all these moves. I find that, I've just been invited to four different company parties, tech company parties, which did not happen in the last six months. Interestingly, someone who did, who has gotten in a bit of trouble, Bill Maher, went to the White House again for dinner. It's fine if he wants to go to the White House,

1:07:30whatever. But Trump then posted his longest true social post ever, a 1,300-word diatribe against Bill Maher. Dinner might not have been great. He got criticized for going. He's getting criticized by Trump. You're going to see a lot of this kind of stuff going forward is people, you know, being angry because you were canoodling with the president. So just, it's a fail. I don't want them. I didn't want them then and I want them now. So it's going to be interesting to see them trying to reenter society if he loses as badly as people think he did. He will. Anyway, we'll see where it happens. So just going to the Jonad files, and that is, Jonah was probably the subject or the receptacle for some of the best insults. He was called the cloud bobberer, guy scraper, the pointless giant, the wrong shape,ffolding, The World's Biggest Single-Cell Organism. I still think next to Modern Family, I I don't like. I have yogurt, champagne, and-

1:08:47Very expensive champagne, yeah. A few pre-rolled and that's it. One, and I get all this tchotchke shit that I throw out immediately. I decorate my house like a Swiss architect who's got ADD. Anyways, the one thing I have in my room, and it's the first, almost the first thing I see, I wake up every morning, is Tammy Haddad sent me a Veep pillow, and it's Mount Rushmore with Julie Louis-Dreyfus's face on it. And I wake up and it just makes me smile. Yeah, she's the best. I love. That show is the best. Whenever I'm a little bit down, I turn to drugs. No, I turn to Veep, or sometimes I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, or Modern Family if I'm feeling like I want to cry. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, she's in a play in New York by the way with Allison Janney,

1:09:35who's also spectacular in The Diplomat. Julia Louis-Dreyfus? Yeah, they're in a thing together. Why doesn't she come to one of our live pivots? I think she's busy being on Broadway, Scott, I believe. I'll text her. Broadway schmodway. All right, I will text her. Nobody sees Broadway. I will text her. She's a shy and retiring person. She's great. I've spent a little time with her. I really like her. Anyway, we want to hear from you. Send us your questions about business tech or whatever's on your mind. Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit a question the show, or call 855-51-PIVOT. Okay, that's the show. Thanks for listening to Pivot. We'll be back on Friday. Today's show was produced by Lara Naiman,

1:10:14Zoe Marcus, Taylor Griffin, and Todd Wiseman. Our interviewers had entered into this episode. Thanks also to Drew Brose, Ms. Saveria, and Dan Chalon. Mishar Kroas, Fox Media's executive producer of podcasts. Make sure to follow Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for listening to Pivot from Vox Media. We'll be back later this week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. Cara, go blue. As soon as autumn rolls around and you swap your iced lattes for pumpkin spice, that's your signal to start thinking about the holidays. The decor, the gifts, the shopping lists, but more importantly, the holiday treats.

1:10:59Cheesecakes, cookies, is there anything better? And when the recipe calls for cream cheese, there's only one option. Philadelphia, the original cream cheese, made with fresh milk and real cream. This holiday season, whether you're going all out or keeping it simple, make it really Philly good. Find your favorite holiday recipe at creamcheese.com. As soon as autumn rolls around and you swap your iced lattes for pumpkin spice, that's your signal to start thinking about the holidays, the decor, the gifts, the shopping lists, but more importantly, the holiday treats. Cheesecakes, cookies, is there anything better? And when the recipe calls for cream cheese, there's only one option. Philadelphia, the original cream cheese,

1:11:54made with fresh milk and real cream. This holiday season, whether you're going all out or keeping it simple, make it really Philly good. Find your favorite holiday recipe at creamcheese.com. has a trillion dollars of secure payments powering their bill pay tools. Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.com slash proven to get started and grab a $150 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.

▸More episode summaries

Pivot cover art
PivotMichigan Midterm Drama, Crypto Heist, and Guest Hillary Clinton2026-11-03 · 71 min
Pivot cover art
PivotTrump's War on "Artificial Intelligence," Elon v. Scott, and Google's Wall Street Meltdown2026-10-30 · 60 min
Pivot cover art
PivotPivot Extra: From ‘Trump Curious’ to ‘Trump Furious’: Inside the Midterm Odds2026-10-25 · 69 min
Pivot cover art
PivotElon v. Kara, Tesla’s SpaceX Lifeline, and Sacha Baron Cohen on Satire2026-10-23 · 68 min
Pivot cover art
PivotTrump's Putin Play, Elon's SpaceX Stock Pledge, and Netflix's Staffing Shakeup2026-10-20 · 57 min
Pivot cover art
PivotPivot Extra: America at 250 — with Heather Cox Richardson2026-10-18 · 63 min
Transcribe your links. Paste a YouTube, Google Drive or podcast link and WhipScribe gives you the transcript. Transcribe a link →
New Pivot transcripts by email
One email per new episode, unsubscribe in every message. Not shared with the publisher.