Musk's $10.5B SpaceX Giveaway, Anthropic's IPO Countdown and CoreWeave's 60% Default Odds

Good morning, crowd.

Today: Elon Musk wants to hand every American kid a piece of SpaceX, Anthropic gives away 5% of itself weeks before its IPO, and bond traders think CoreWeave is more likely than not to default. Then Goldman Sachs upgraded it anyway.

Markets mood: tech bounced back on Monday after last week's AI sell-off, with the Nasdaq up about 1% early in the session. This week Netflix, Meta and Tesla report, so the AI-spending debate gets real numbers fast.

Quick game: take your best guess before you read story 2.

Read time: 5 minutes

Why Overseas Producers Can't Undercut Atlas Salt, Even for Free

Cities are already running short on road salt, and winter hasn't even started. Some supply bids are going unanswered, prices have nearly doubled in parts of the market, and the backup plan is two weeks away by boat. Here's why can get salt to the people who need it most, faster and cheaper than anyone shipping from overseas: 

• Three days by ship to Boston, not fourteen

• Shallow deposit that's cheaper and faster to mine

• Projected C$188M a year in free cash flow

• Export Development Canada interested in lending C$150M

• Early supply deal with top U.S. salt distributor

1. THE IPO COUNTDOWN

Anthropic Is Giving Away 5% of Itself Weeks Before Its IPO

On Sunday, Anthropic said it will put 5% of its shares into a new public benefit fund, if stockholders approve. The board can add 2% more for every 50% rise in the company's value above a baseline it hasn't disclosed yet.

• ~$48B: what 5% would be worth at its last private valuation of about $965B, set in May

• ~20%: share of Anthropic now set aside for public-benefit purposes, counting the co-founders' pledge to give away 80% of their equity

• Week of Nov 9: when Bloomberg reported the IPO roadshow could start, with trading possible before Thanksgiving

• 2027: the earliest OpenAI says it will go public, which leaves Anthropic as the big AI IPO of 2026

The fund could make big donations or pay money directly to groups hit by AI, such as workers whose jobs change. None of it can go to lobbying or politics, Anthropic says.

Why it matters: giving away 5% shrinks every other shareholder's slice a little. Anthropic is betting that buyers will pay more for a company that looks like it is sharing the upside of AI. Public market investors get their say in a few weeks.

Read more: Anthropic's announcement

Catch up on the numbers in Friday's breakdown of Anthropic's $16.8B quarter.

2. THE GIVEAWAY

Musk Says Every American Kid Gets a SpaceX Share. That's About $10.5B

On Monday, Elon Musk posted on X that next year he will give one of his own SpaceX shares to every kid in America, and called it "the first of many."

• 72 million: people under 18 in the US, per Census data cited by Axios

• $146.03: SpaceX's closing price on Friday

• ~$10.5B: what the giveaway would cost at that price, a small slice of Musk's stake

• Still unclear: who counts as a "kid," whether non-citizens qualify, and how the shares would be held for minors

Why it matters: if it happens, it could create one of the biggest waves of first-time shareholders in history, all of them owning SpaceX. It's also a reminder that the hottest companies now decide who gets to own them, and when.

Read more: Axios on the pledge

3. THE WARNING SIGN

Bond Traders Price 60% Default Odds for CoreWeave. Goldman Says Buy

CoreWeave rents out the Nvidia chips that power AI, mostly paid for with debt. Last week its credit market cracked. Then the stock market shrugged.

• 60%+: the five-year default odds implied by its credit default swaps, which hit a record on Oct 15, per Bloomberg

• ~15%: the yield on its 2031 bonds, up from about 12% two months ago

• 22%: how much the stock fell last week

• ~6%: how much it bounced on Monday after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to Buy, with a $139 target

Why it matters: bond investors and stock analysts are looking at the same company and seeing opposite things. The bond market usually spots trouble first. Whoever turns out right will shape what lenders charge to fund AI data centers, including in private credit.

Read more: Benzinga on the default odds

Background: Sunday's story on CoreWeave's 15% bonds.

4. THE LAUNCH

Apple Is Expected to Show Its First Touchscreen Mac on Oct 28

Apple has set Wednesday, Oct 28 for new product announcements, with hands-on sessions in Los Angeles instead of a big keynote. Marketing chief Greg Joswiak teased it as "Pro and Tell."

• The headliner: a MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen, according to reports. Apple has avoided touchscreen Macs for years

• Also expected: M6-chip MacBook Pro and iMac models, plus an iPad mini with an OLED screen

• Same day: the Federal Reserve announces its rate decision

Why it matters: new hardware is where AI meets regular people. Startups building AI apps and chips that run on laptops, rather than in the cloud, could get a much bigger market.

Read more: CNBC on the Apple event

5. AI GOES ROGUE

One Hacker Used AI Agents to Break Into 100+ Websites, at About $50 Each

A single hacker pointed open-source AI agents at more than 1,200 websites starting Sept 25 and got into more than 100, according to researcher Snorre Fagerland of security firm NorForge, as reported by Reuters.

• ~$5,000: the estimated AI bill for the whole campaign, about $50 per successful break-in

• ~23 hours: average time for a successful attack, with roughly a 10% success rate

• Who was hit: mostly online shops, plus sites tied to Deere, SharkNinja and a Cummins vendor. Deere and SharkNinja said the impact was limited, and Cummins is investigating

Why it matters: hacking just got cheap enough to run like a business. That's why investors keep paying up for security companies, like last week's $6.3B take-private of data security firm Varonis.

Read more: The Next Web on the AI hacking spree

DEALS

Merck KGaA Pays a 130% Premium for Silence Therapeutics

German drugmaker Merck KGaA agreed on Monday to buy UK biotech Silence Therapeutics for about $1.3B, or $20 a share in cash. That's a 130% premium, the second-highest this year among the larger biotech deals tracked by BioPharma Dive. The prize is divesiran, an RNA drug for a rare blood disorder called polycythemia vera. The deal should close in early 2027.

Why it matters: big pharma is paying more than double the market price for promising drugs. That's good news for every venture-backed biotech hoping to be bought.

Read more: BioPharma Dive on the deal

Dubai Promises $592M in Dividends to Land Its First IPO Since the War

Dubai Investments is selling 20% of DIP Holding, owner of the 2,300-hectare Dubai Investments Park, in the UAE's first IPO since the Iran war began. To win buyers, it promised dividends of 700M, 725M and 750M dirhams over the next three years, about $592M in total.

• Oct 27 to Nov 3: subscription period

• Nov 11: first day of trading

• ~9%: how far Dubai's main stock index is down as the war weighs on Gulf markets

Why it matters: when markets are nervous, sellers pay buyers to show up. Expect more sweeteners like this from companies trying to go public.

Read more: Bloomberg via The Edge on the DIP IPO

QUICK HITS

• Tenstorrent, the AI chip startup run by Jim Keller, raised $1.5B at a $6.2B valuation, more than double its 2024 price. Read more

• Nscale wants a $30B IPO valuation. Some investors say $16B to $19B, and Microsoft just pulled out of one of its UK data center projects. Read more

• Jio Platforms' $3.2B IPO, potentially India's biggest, opens for bids on Wednesday at a valuation of about $108B. Read more

• Even Healthcare, which runs hospitals and healthcare financing in India, raised $50M led by Khosla Ventures at about a $300M valuation. Read more

• The US Department of Homeland Security banned DeepSeek from civilian federal computers, citing data and security risks. Read more

What to watch

• Today: GM reports before the open. Netflix reports after the close

• Wednesday: Meta and Tesla report after the close. Watch whether Meta changes its AI spending plan of $130B to $145B

• Wednesday to Friday: Jio Platforms' IPO is open for bids

• Oct 28: Apple's product launch and the Fed's rate decision, on the same day

Track Anthropic and the rest of the 100 biggest private companies on our Private Company Index.

Quick answers

What is Anthropic's public benefit fund?

On October 18, 2026, Anthropic said it will commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, subject to stockholder approval, with up to 2% more for every 50% rise in its value above a baseline. Including earlier pledges, about 20% of Anthropic's shares are now dedicated to public-benefit purposes.

Is Elon Musk giving SpaceX shares to children?

On October 19, 2026, Elon Musk said on X that next year he will give one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America. With about 72 million Americans under 18 and SpaceX at $146.03 a share, that would cost about $10.5 billion. Details such as eligibility have not been announced.

Why are CoreWeave's default odds so high?

CoreWeave's five-year credit default swaps hit a record on October 15, 2026, implying more than a 60% chance of default, because the company funds its AI chips with heavy debt and its interest costs have surged. Its stock still rose about 6% on October 19 after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to Buy.

The Takeaway

The biggest names in tech are deciding who gets to own the future. Musk is handing SpaceX to kids, Anthropic is handing 5% of itself to a public fund, and Dubai is paying people to buy its IPO. Meanwhile, the bond market keeps reminding everyone that AI still runs on borrowed money.

Quick game answer: about $10.5 billion. 72 million kids times $146.03 a share. How close were you?

Want to see where Anthropic and the other private giants stand today? Check the Private Company Index. Or listen to the Founderscrowd podcast.

Hunt accordingly.

Jose, Alberto & the Founderscrowd Team

Sources

• Anthropic: Investing in the public benefit

• Bloomberg Law: Anthropic targets mega IPO before Thanksgiving

• Axios: Musk pledges 1 SpaceX share for every child in America

• Benzinga: CoreWeave markets price 60% default odds

• TheStreet: Stock market today, Oct. 19, 2026

• CNBC: Apple announces product launch event for Oct. 28

• MacRumors: Apple announcing new products next week: 'Pro and Tell'

• The Next Web: AI agents broke into 100+ sites for one hacker

• BioPharma Dive: Merck KGaA bets on RNAi with $1.3B Silence buyout

• The Edge Malaysia (Bloomberg): Dubai sweetens first IPO since war with $592M dividend

• Stock Titan: Earnings calendar, week of October 19

Sources are linked in each story. Photos via Wikimedia Commons: TechCrunch (CC BY 2.0); Steve Jurvetson (CC BY 2.0); Carl Lender (CC BY 2.0), illustrative, not a CoreWeave facility; Nils Huenerfuerst (CC0); Markus Spiske (CC0), illustrative; Armin Kübelbeck (CC BY-SA 3.0); imran shahabuddin (CC BY 2.0).

Disclaimer: Founderscrowd is a media company. We are not a broker-dealer, funding portal, investment adviser or financial planner, and we do not collect or hold investor funds. Nothing in this email is investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Views on any company or deal are the writers' opinions and are not tailored to you. Some content may be sponsored or affiliate-linked, and writers may hold positions in companies we cover. Data comes from third-party sources and is not guaranteed. Private market investments are speculative, illiquid and can lose their entire value, and many offerings are limited to accredited investors.