Hello there! You’ve surely heard the saying that children and fools tell the truth. Well, something rather like that happened yesterday with a chap called Panos Lamprinidis-Stachtos, a former SYRIZA official and now a supporter of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras. Commenting on events in France, he declared, with a silly grin, “Great turmoil, wonderful situation”, before adding, “Let’s hope we’re next.”

Generally speaking, various analysts, journalists, commentators and assorted pundits seem convinced that Greece’s turn is just around the corner and that we are about to become the next France. For now, I would simply point out that, while we’re hardly living in prosperity, I don’t see Greece turning into France any time soon.

On the contrary, a report we’re working on here at newmoney.gr suggests that holiday destinations across Greece are expecting occupancy rates of 95% ahead of the 28 October public holiday. And that’s despite the holiday falling on a Wednesday.

But to be serious for a moment, the cost of living is unquestionably the biggest problem facing societies and governments across the world today. We haven’t experienced an inflationary surge of this magnitude for 40 years.

It’s an enormous problem, virtually impossible to solve internationally, from America to Asia. And it certainly cannot be tackled through administrative measures alone. What is needed is income support, some market oversight and perhaps a more robust competition policy, although that is particularly difficult to implement in small, relatively shallow economies such as Greece.

So it is entirely natural for an opposition party to campaign on the cost of living. But saying, as our dear Alexis does, that “sooner or later young people will rise up as they have in France” is political nonsense, much like young Panos’s remarks, albeit expressed somewhat less bluntly.

Café politics, as usual

Of course, our Alexis has never been short of grand pronouncements or café-table political wisdom.

I came across a reel he’d filmed in a traditional café somewhere in northern Greece, chatting with a few rather colourful characters. After congratulating him on introducing the 120-instalment debt repayment scheme – they were referring to the one from a decade ago, since Kyriakos Pierrakakis has now introduced it again – Tsipras suddenly changed the subject.

“Yes, yes, and another thing: tips are taxed. That’s unacceptable.”

Meanwhile – since Alexis has developed a taste for English – under the new legislation, tips of up to €6,000 a year are tax-free.

Unless, of course, these lads work at Zuma, with my friend Soula, and collect rather more than that in tips.

You really couldn’t make it up, could you?

Samaras brings his own Thessaloniki Programme

Former prime minister Antonis Samaras was the latest to join the race yesterday to promise reductions in taxes, special levies, VAT and everything else.

Don’t imagine he contributed anything particularly new to the debate. PASOK and Tsipras have already covered practically every conceivable tax cut, from fuel to restaurants and beyond.

There’s little point in costing Samaras’s proposals, although if I had to guess, I’d put them at around €1.5 billion. The reality is that when you’re in opposition, nobody believes these promises anyway.

Especially when you’re essentially repeating what Tsipras was saying when Samaras was prime minister. It is rather like a miniature version of the famous Thessaloniki Programme, the ambitious package of economic promises Tsipras unveiled before taking office.

All that’s missing now is for Antonis to come out and promise to abolish ENFIA, Greece’s property tax.

By the way – Alexis has clearly infected me with his enthusiasm for English – the reason Theodoros Karaoglou has been making his recent comments is that he wants the backing of Samaras and his allies in northern Greece, where there is a far-right constituency. Karaoglou is hoping to run for regional governor.

But New Democracy had its own troubles yesterday, involving some nonsense about university degrees and the so-called executive state, so nobody at party headquarters said a word.

From Simitis’s notebook to Claude AI

Years ago, one of the enduring legends of Greek politics concerned the famous notebook kept by former prime minister Costas Simitis, in which he supposedly assessed the performance of his ministers.

From 2019 onwards, the MAZI system, introduced under the government’s centralised executive-state model, was presented as a major innovation for monitoring government performance.

Yesterday, while discussing the inauguration of the Daedalus supercomputer in Lavrio, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned his ministers that anyone attempting to mislead him by claiming to have completed work they had not actually done would find themselves up against Claude.

That’s because Mitsotakis himself uses the artificial intelligence tool, as do many members of his office, to organise their work.

So anyone thinking of pulling a fast one should bear in mind that AI will be watching.

Korovesi awaits her meeting

Independent MP Myrto Korovesi is waiting for confirmation of a meeting with PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis this week, after which she will be able to speak more openly about how she decided to move towards the centre-left party.

A reminder of her political journey: she was elected with SYRIZA, subsequently joined Stefanos Kasselakis’s party and then made a rather hasty exit.

Her entry into PASOK’s parliamentary group is expected to be finalised in the coming days, after which attention will turn to other potential recruits.

The first, and most advanced, case is Nina Kasimati. She is not expected to join within the next few days, but neither is the matter likely to drag on indefinitely.

Next in line is Giota Poulou, with whom contacts are also said to be close.

3 November: The day Greek television is divided up again

On Tuesday, 3 November, the entire planet will be watching the US midterm elections.

But the people running Greek television will have something rather different on their minds.

That is the deadline for submitting bids for the Greek broadcasting rights to the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League for the four-year period from 2027 to 2031.

At present, the rights are held by OTE’s Magenta TV, formerly Cosmote TV, under a three-year agreement expiring next summer. The package includes 546 broadcasts per season, while Mega airs one Wednesday match.

In the previous tender, in 2024, there were three contenders: Cosmote, Mega and Antenna.

This time, the landscape looks very different. Competition could be fierce, and the price of what is arguably television’s most valuable sporting product could soar, particularly if an international streaming giant decides to enter the contest.

Let me explain.

PerCapita, the alliance of television channels operating under the Antenna platform, which is due to be renamed, is certain to compete for the package.

The company has already secured the rights to 12 of the 14 teams in Greece’s Super League from Magenta TV, formerly Cosmote, and the two sides have a financial partnership covering that product.

The second contender is businessman Giannis Alafouzos.

Having recently established his own Sport FM platform, he already controls the football rights to Panathinaikos, has secured PAOK from next season, and holds the rights to the Greek Football Cup and the basketball championship.

To establish the platform and attract subscribers, he needs a major football package of this kind.

Then there is information suggesting that Dimitris Giannakopoulos, the businessman behind Panathinaikos basketball, is considering entering the race, either independently or as part of an alliance.

He has a powerful brand, a major basketball club and, of course, money.

But the really interesting question is whether an international platform such as Netflix might decide to establish a regional foothold in the Greek market.

Market talk suggests that competition could push the bidding dramatically higher, from the €18 million reportedly paid by Telekom to as much as €40 million.

It promises to be quite a match. Whoever secures the European football package will capture a substantial slice of the market, although not without taking a serious financial hit in the process.

After the Aegean, the Ionian Sea

The draft presidential decree establishing the Southern Aegean Marine Park has just been submitted to Greece’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, and the Ministry of Environment and Energy is already moving on to the next stage.

The final outstanding Special Environmental Study concerning the Ionian Islands is expected to be completed in the coming days.

The aim is to send the draft presidential decree for the Ionian Sea promptly to the relevant ministries before forwarding it to the Council of State for review.

At this pace, Greece is heading towards protecting 35% of its marine waters as early as 2027, exceeding the European target of 30% and achieving it three years ahead of the 2030 deadline.

That would mean greater protection for marine biodiversity and the country’s valuable ecosystems.

Piraeus Bank, Oaktree, IASO and the art of keeping quiet

Now to the business world, starting with an interesting development in banking.

The deal for Piraeus Bank to acquire IASO, the private healthcare group owned by Oaktree Capital, has been concluded.

And when I say concluded, I mean the contracts have been signed. It’s done.

If you’re wondering why there has been no announcement, the answer is that a growing number of companies are adopting a familiar approach to acquisitions: keeping their heads down and pretending nothing has happened.

In other words, they announce nothing publicly and simply submit the transaction to the Hellenic Competition Commission, hoping to get through the approval process as quietly as possible, with few objections or ideally none at all.

Take Olympia Group, owned by Panos Germanos. It had finalised the sale of Entersoftone to Hg at least three months before making an official announcement.

The group waited for the Competition Commission’s green light before going public because, as everyone knows, competitors are always such lovely people, endlessly eager to help by throwing obstacles in your path.

The same applies to Piraeus Bank’s acquisition of IASO.

Athens Medical Group and insurance companies are hardly delighted by Piraeus Bank’s plans involving Ethniki Insurance and Hmithea, which would create a powerful new player in the market.

From Strix to Kyriakou

Since I mentioned Hmithea and Piraeus Bank’s non-banking subsidiaries – ETBA Industrial Parks, Henry Dunant Hospital, Attica Group and MIG – it reminded me of Strix, where there has been a resignation.

I’m referring to Ioannis Vogiatzis, the CEO and chief investment officer of Strix.

A former general manager at Piraeus Bank, responsible for non-performing loans and the bank’s corporate holdings, Vogiatzis left the bank to take up his position at Strix.

He has also served on the boards of subsidiaries, including Attica Group, and has begun stepping down from those positions. Yesterday, for example, it was announced that he had resigned from the board of Trastor.

To complete the picture, I should add that he has left Strix to join the business group of Theodore Kyriakou, although this column does not know what position or responsibilities he will assume.

My guess is that the two became acquainted during Kyriakou’s negotiations concerning Attica Group, and that the move was agreed during those discussions.

Banks prepare for their quarterly results

The third-quarter earnings season for Greece’s banks begins on 29 October, with Eurobank reporting first.

Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank follow on 30 October, while National Bank of Greece and Bank of Cyprus are scheduled to publish their results on 5 November.

Alpha Bank will also hold its Investor Day on that date.

Optima Bank is due to report on 11 November, followed by CrediaBank on 12 November, completing the earnings calendar.

The third-quarter figures are expected to reflect the continued strong inflow of deposits, which is helping support liquidity across the banking system.

Higher interest rates are gradually feeding through into the cost of term deposits. However, their relatively small share of total deposits allows banks to continue enjoying substantial benefits from net interest income.

At the same time, credit expansion is expected to remain within banks’ full-year targets, even if growth slows slightly during the third quarter.

In retail banking, demand for mortgages remains satisfactory at least at some lenders, providing signs of stabilisation in a sector still searching for stronger momentum.

Financing major investments

And while we’re on the subject of banks, I should mention that Alpha Bank was also involved behind the scenes in yesterday’s inauguration of the Daedalus supercomputer in Lavrio.

The bank financed Greek company MainSys, which worked with HP to deliver the €59 million project involving the construction and preparation of the facilities housing the country’s national supercomputer.

Another investment attracting attention in the market, also financed by Alpha Bank, is the construction of Greece’s largest standalone electricity storage facility in Thessaly.

Alpha Bank provided €59 million in financing, with a further €81 million coming from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The €170 million project was developed by METLEN and the Karatzis Group.

GEK TERNA’s €500 million bond issue brings together 13 banks

GEK TERNA’s decision to venture into the international bond markets amid considerable turbulence is certainly a bold move, although there is little doubt that the issue will be fully subscribed.

It’s worth noting that, given the difficult conditions in bond markets, only one European company has issued a eurobond over the past quarter.

That’s why GEK TERNA’s offering has been meticulously prepared, complete with a roadshow and an impressive roster of underwriting banks.

Specifically, the transaction has three joint global coordinators: BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and Mediobanca, with the latter also handling organisational responsibilities.

They are joined by another ten bookrunners: Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, the four major Greek banking groups – Alpha Bank through AXIA, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank – and Optima Bank.

Thirteen banks for a €500 million issue.

That’s roughly €38 million per underwriter.

Nobody has been left out, although nobody is likely to earn enough in fees to remember the transaction for very long.

The bond has a seven-year maturity, ranks as senior debt and carries a fixed interest rate. It will be listed in Luxembourg.

Eurobank has made clear to its clients that, regardless of how much demand the order book attracts, the issue size will not be increased.

The notes will carry Baa3/BBB- ratings, reflecting the investment-grade status GEK TERNA first secured on 7 May and which both rating agencies reaffirmed last Friday for its European Medium Term Note programme.

Those investment-grade ratings came from two highly respected agencies, but ultimately it is the market that determines the price.

That is why the coupon to be established this week will provide the first public benchmark for what a Greek infrastructure group with investment-grade status must pay to borrow.

Naturally, it will also serve as a guide for any similar transactions by other major Greek groups, such as PPC or Titan.

The issue is scheduled to close this evening.

The corporate battle over fibre-optic networks

The agreement between Public Power Corporation (PPC) and Vodafone to establish a joint wholesale fibre-optic company is progressing rapidly, with completion expected towards the end of the year.

The structure has been known since June.

It involves a 50-50 merger of PPC’s FiberGrid and Vodafone’s Fiber2All, with Vodafone paying approximately €130 million to compensate for the smaller network it is contributing.

Vodafone brings around 620,000 premises passed, compared with almost two million for FiberGrid.

The objective is to reach 3.8 million premises by 2028.

But behind the scenes, speculation is mounting about what comes next.

According to information reaching the column, the new venture has its sights set on United Fiber, the infrastructure subsidiary of telecommunications company Nova.

United Fiber has completed its investment programme, with a network reaching 950,000 premises and 280,000 active customers.

Its estimated valuation stands at €300 million.

However, this interest has also stirred Telekom Greece into action.

The company has every reason to want to curb PPC’s expansion before the country’s second fibre network grows to a size comparable with its own.

Standing between these two prospective buyers is Nikos Stathopoulos of BC Partners, who knows a thing or two about selling assets in pieces and getting the price he wants.

In August, he sold a 50% stake in Nova ICT to Motor Oil’s IREON for €60.5 million.

As for Nova itself, he had sought between €1.7 billion and €2 billion. When that valuation failed to materialise, he declared that the company was “not for sale”.

Everything suggests that Greece is moving towards a two-player market, with OTE/Telekom on one side and PPC–Vodafone on the other.

Trying to carve out a place between them is the smaller, more agile Inalan.

The company already covers 500,000 households and businesses and has set its sights on between 1.5 million and two million subscribers, backed by €40 million in fresh investment and its Canadian shareholder, Fiera Infrastructure.

In fibre optics, the network that nobody buys is the one keeping prices down.

Oil refineries: Brussels’ windfall tax and the Greek approach

On 12 October, EU Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra confirmed to Reuters that the European Commission was establishing a working group to examine a Europe-wide tax on the windfall profits of oil and natural gas companies.

Six countries – Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria – called for the measure in a letter sent in August, with Brent crude remaining more than 70% above its level at the start of the year.

Portugal has already acted independently, introducing a 33% tax on extraordinary refining profits for 2026.

The previous EU windfall-tax initiative, introduced in 2022, generated almost €29 billion across the bloc.

But it also left a series of legal challenges pending, which the Commission must now take into account.

Greece did not sign the six-country letter.

Not because it is unfamiliar with the approach.

The country imposed a 33% extraordinary levy on refinery windfall profits for both 2022 and 2023, collecting approximately €900 million in total.

This year, however, the government has changed strategy.

Instead of imposing a levy that would generate revenue the following year, it has opted for discounts that appear at petrol pumps within the same week.

Since last Thursday, heating oil has been selling at around €1.55 per litre instead of €1.95.

The €0.40 reduction comprises €0.20 from the government and €0.20 from the refineries.

For road diesel, the state contributes €0.15 per litre and the refineries another €0.05.

For unleaded petrol, the refineries withdrew the €0.10 discount they had been offering since July as of 17 October, with an equivalent government subsidy taking its place.

The final figures tell their own story.

The three-month “voluntary” discount programme, running from 15 July to 15 October, cost HELLENiQ Energy and Motor Oil approximately €100 million.

The three government interventions introduced during the second half of October will cost €46 million.

Consumers benefit from these subsidies without submitting applications or meeting income eligibility criteria.

An extraordinary tax delivers revenue to the state budget after the financial year has ended, usually with a year’s delay and potentially with legal proceedings in between.

An agreement with the industry delivers a €0.40 reduction at the pump immediately, without fresh legislation or court challenges.

The stock market, meanwhile, does not appear concerned.

HELLENiQ shares have reached record highs above €19, while Motor Oil gained 2.99% on the day the measures were announced.

Motor Oil finally reaches €70

And since we’re talking about refineries, let’s stay with Motor Oil.

After spending a month trying to break through the €70 barrier, the company finally reached that level, setting an all-time record on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Yesterday’s trading session was marked by considerable volatility.

The shares opened at €68.95 and fell as low as €66.95 during the session.

But the closing auction brought a remarkable turnaround, with the stock finishing at a record €70.

The achievement becomes even more significant when you consider that Motor Oil began 2026 trading at €31.40.

Its cumulative gains now stand at 123%.

The spectacular performance has lifted the group’s market capitalisation to €7.75 billion, making it the eighth most valuable listed company on the Greek stock market.

Allwyn: It all depends on the share price and any discount

Allwyn is offering shareholders the opportunity to receive all or part of its interim distribution in newly issued ordinary shares rather than cash.

For the company, the principal advantage is preserving liquidity to the extent that shareholders choose to reinvest their distributions.

That provides greater flexibility for investment, acquisitions or reducing debt.

For shareholders, the arrangement offers an opportunity to increase their holdings without contributing additional capital.

How attractive the option proves to be will depend on the issue price of the new shares and whether they are offered at a discount to the prevailing market price.

Verallis: From €0.95 to €1.70 and back to €1.50 in six sessions

Verallis began trading on the EN.A. Growth market of Euronext Athens on Friday, 9 October, at €0.95 per share, giving it a market capitalisation of €3.94 million.

The company did not issue a single new share.

Instead, 4,150,000 existing shares, each with a nominal value of €0.04, were admitted to trading.

By Monday, 12 October, when Giorgos Dimopoulos rang the opening bell, the stock had already recorded two consecutive sessions at the maximum daily gain of 20%.

During the week, the share price climbed as high as €1.70, lifting its market valuation to €7.06 million, almost double its value at admission.

It is now trading at around €1.50.

That’s a gain of 58% from the initial €0.95, a decline of 12% from the peak and a market capitalisation of approximately €6.2 million.

Dimopoulos owns 2,992,500 shares, representing 72.11% of the company’s €166,000 share capital.

That leaves 1,157,500 shares available to the market, a free float of 27.89%.

At €1.50 per share, that publicly tradable stake is worth approximately €1.74 million.

With daily trading volumes ranging from a few hundred to several thousand shares, the journey from €0.95 to €1.70 and back to €1.50 in six sessions was relatively straightforward.

Verallis, headquartered in a neoclassical building in the Athens suburb of Kifisia, with offices in Bucharest and Brașov, provides operating-cost reduction services.

Its fees are based exclusively on the savings it achieves for clients, using a success-fee model.

It is a small business, with annual turnover of around €2 million, but one whose model allows it to expand without a corresponding increase in costs.

According to sources familiar with the company, although management has not confirmed the information, two announcements are expected in the coming weeks.

The first concerns a small acquisition that would add new operations and customers.

The second involves securing a project significantly larger than anything the company has handled to date.

When a company lists without a public share offering, it’s the 28% free float that determines the price.

But it’s the 72% controlling stake that captures the value.

Jumbo returns to €27 after nine months

Retail group Jumbo has developed strong upward momentum, recording six consecutive positive trading sessions and accumulating gains of 9.85% since 9 October, the last time its shares closed lower.

The stock finished yesterday at €27, having touched an intraday high of €27.14.

That marks its first return to the €27 level since mid-January.

The rally has significantly reduced Jumbo’s losses since the beginning of 2026, raising the possibility that the stock could reverse its negative performance for the year altogether.

The next milestone is €27.90, its opening price at the start of 2026.

Breaking above that threshold would put the shares back into positive territory for the year.

Intracom Holdings battles to stay above €3

Intracom Holdings has returned above the psychologically important €3 threshold following a 4.15% surge in Monday’s session, its strongest daily performance in a month.

The shares closed at €3.01, regaining a support level they had lost earlier in October.

One possible supporting factor is the company’s share buyback programme, which was activated on 7 October.

On 16 October, Intracom acquired 21,159 shares, increasing its total treasury holdings to 744,718 shares, equivalent to 0.89% of its share capital.

The challenge now is to establish a sustainable position above €3.

The energy game and the Greek shipowners holding the keys

In the new energy landscape emerging between the United States and Europe, there is one factor that is difficult to overlook: Greek shipowners.

Europe’s efforts to diversify its natural gas supplies, combined with the American strategy of expanding liquefied natural gas exports, are creating a market in which LNG carriers are becoming increasingly strategically important.

It is no coincidence that Greek shipping groups continue to invest in modern LNG vessels.

A recent example is Dynagas, with its programme of four new carriers, each with a capacity of 200,000 cubic metres.

But the developments behind the scenes are not limited to shipbuilding orders.

They also concern the increasingly important role Greek shipping is acquiring in discussions about Europe’s energy security.

After all, one thing is for governments to agree on the supply of energy cargoes.

It is quite another to ensure there are ships available to transport them, suitable infrastructure and long-term commercial agreements to support those deliveries.

The question is who will secure the most favourable charter arrangements during the next phase of the energy market’s restructuring.

And in that equation, Greek shipping companies wield influence far greater than the size of Greece’s domestic market might suggest.

The Lykiardopoulos family, new ships and a move that went almost unnoticed

Away from the publicity spotlight, the historic Greek shipowning Lykiardopoulos family continues to strengthen its presence in the dry bulk shipping market, combining newbuild investments with an interesting organisational move.

Neda Maritime, controlled by Nikolaos and Michalis Lykiardopoulos, has established Neda Bulkers, a separate dry bulk ship management company linked to its fleet renewal programme.

The new entity has already taken over management of the Kamsarmax vessels Apollonis and Okeanis, built in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

The programme also includes Aethra, an 82,000-deadweight-tonne vessel scheduled for delivery from China’s Hengli shipyards in 2027.

And that’s not all.

According to international shipping market sources, Neda has also been linked to an order for two Capesize vessels, each with a capacity of 182,000 deadweight tonnes, again at Hengli.

The combined investment is estimated at approximately $152 million.

What makes these developments particularly interesting is their combination.

On the one hand, the family is investing in larger, more modern vessels.

On the other, it is establishing a specialised corporate structure to manage them.

Delaportas’s $1 billion investment and the bet on tomorrow’s market

Costas Delaportas, head of DryDel Shipping, made some interesting remarks at the recent Marine Money Greek Ship Finance Forum, revealing the thinking behind one of the Greek dry bulk sector’s largest investment programmes.

The company has committed more than $1 billion to newbuilding contracts at Japanese shipyards, with 13 new vessels scheduled to join its fleet by 2029.

But the real interest lies not simply in the size of the investment.

The Greek shipowner delivered a clear message about how he approaches shipping cycles.

As he explained, his company is not buying today’s market. It is buying tomorrow’s fleet.

And that is where the commercial gamble lies.

Around 40% of the global dry bulk fleet is already more than 15 years old, creating significant opportunities for fleet renewal over the coming years.

Delaportas is investing in ships that will operate for the next two decades, regardless of short-term fluctuations in freight rates.

The question is which companies will have secured modern tonnage in good time when the next major restructuring of the market begins.

Because in shipping, those who prepare before the cycle turns are often the ones who reap the greatest rewards when it does.

Beware of billionaires bearing gifts: Musk’s SpaceX giveaway

At 4 am New York time, Elon Musk posted a 23-word message on X:

“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every child in America. It will be the first of many.”

There was no explanation of what constitutes a “child”, whether the offer would be restricted to US citizens, how the shares would be transferred or what tax treatment would apply.

But Americans quickly reached for their calculators.

There are approximately 70 million minors in the United States.

SpaceX shares closed on Friday at $146.03, down 1.74%.

At that price, Musk’s proposed gift would be worth approximately $10.2 billion.

An enormous sum for an ordinary person.

For Musk, pocket change.

He is reported to own 849.5 million Class A shares and 3.92 billion Class B shares, giving him a combined 48.4% stake in SpaceX and control of more than 82% of the voting rights.

The 70 million shares he intends to give away represent approximately 1.5% of his personal holdings and 0.5% of SpaceX’s total 13.57 billion shares.

His absolute control of the company would not be threatened in the slightest.

The timing is also interesting.

Musk’s announcement came just one day after Anthropic said it was committing 5% of its equity to a public benefit fund worth more than $100 billion.

“I suggest giving the shares directly to the public,” Musk responded.

A few hours later, he announced that he would do precisely that himself.

The announcement also came just 15 days before the US midterm elections on 3 November, in which President Donald Trump has promised $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans retain control of Congress.

The most likely vehicle for Musk’s giveaway would be the Trump Accounts, investment accounts for children that come with an initial $1,000 government contribution.

In July, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell had already pledged one share to each of two million such accounts, a gift valued at $325 million at the time.

As for SpaceX shares themselves, they are trading approximately 35% below their record high of $225.64, reached on 16 June.

That was just four days after the largest initial public offering in history, which raised $85.7 billion in net proceeds at an offer price of $135 per share.

The conclusion?

Seventy million new shareholders who cannot sell their shares until they reach adulthood would represent not only a genuine act of philanthropy, but also the most long-term shareholder base ever devised.

In the capitalism of billionaires, the gift is simply another way of extending the lock-up period.