"I was riveted by it. I don't quite know how it could have been less," Pivot says of the Virgin Galactic disaster. "A lot of people are rethinking, is this why I'm rich? If you're a private equity billionaire, and as a gift, you gave your 22-year-old daughter a $400,000 ticket on Virgin Galactic." The company's CEO once said he didn't want 55-year-olds to command submersibles because they were not innovators. A third party should be looking at this stuff even if it slows down innovation, writes Pivot.
Breaking news: Kara Swisher will not referee the cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Also, SpaceX is looking to up its valuation, and Meta wants to shut down access to news in Canada. And this weekend’s insurrection in Russia revealed how unequipped social media is to cover breaking news. Plus, an investigation into the Titan submersible implosion may lead to new regulations. Will the same happen for space travel? Then we’re joined by Friend of Pivot, Jason Del Rey on the decades-long battle between Walmart and Amazon.
You can find Jason on Twitter at @DelRey, and you can buy “Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets,” here.
We’ve got some listener mail episodes coming your way soon, so send us your questions! Call 855-51-PIVOT or go to nymag.com/pivot.
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