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   DealBook: Musk’s mega-merger
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   Also, worries about Oracle, OpenAI and Nvidia.
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             February 3, 2026
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         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Good morning. Andrew here.
         </span>
         <span>
          The biggest merger in history, with an asterisk, just happened: SpaceX has acquired xAI to create a $1.25 trillion giant. It’s an all-stock deal — and the stock is private (and privately valued, hence the asterisk), though SpaceX plans to go public later this year.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          All this was orchestrated by one person, Elon Musk, who controls both firms. It would make SpaceX a vertically integrated company for putting data centers in space and then using them for artificial intelligence services. There are questions about whether SpaceX needs xAI and about whether it complicates the SpaceX I.P.O. story, but it certainly helps Musk’s investors in xAI (some of whom previously invested in the social media site X, which xAI acquired).
         </span>
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        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          There’s also a long-term antitrust question: If data centers in space become a reality — if and Musk has a near-monopoly on them — would other A.I. model makers be able to use them? More below. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you?
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         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          Sign up here.
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          )
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            <img alt="A SpaceX Startship rocket on the launchpad, attached to a crane." class="css-3vswge" height="399" src="https://inboxflows.com/_/image/https%253A%252F%252Fstatic01.nyt.com%252Fimages%252F2026%252F02%252F03%252Fmultimedia%252F03db-spacex-kvlh%252F03db-spacex-kvlh-jumbo.jpg/?inbox_flows_img_sig=eyJwYXRoIjoiaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZzdGF0aWMwMS5ueSIsInRpbWUiOjE3NzAxMjQ3MTcuOTIwODYxfQ:1vnGIf:yTu1NFSTQfEiOuGWB8LRzBUxUL7kfwYEQeG7K2hdtsA" style="width:100%;height:auto;display:block;padding-top:10px;padding-bottom:8px" width="600"/>
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            <span style="color:#666;font:normal 14px georgia,serif">
             SpaceX is now a rocket-launching giant, a dominant force in satellite internet, a money-burning artificial intelligence business and a popular but divisive social media company.
            </span>
            <span style="margin:0;font:11px/11px georgia,serif;color:#888;letter-spacing:.01em">
             Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
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        <h2 class="css-10nzuqq" style="color:#000;font:700 25px/32px arial,sans-serif;margin:0 0 10px">
         <span>
          The big questions about Musk’s big deal
         </span>
        </h2>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Elon Musk had a busy Monday, combining his SpaceX rocket company and his xAI artificial intelligence start-up to create the world’s most valuable private enterprise,.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          Musk described the merged company
         </a>
         <span>
          as “the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth.” The deal transpired before a long-planned I.P.O. for SpaceX that could happen this summer.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          But investors and others are raising questions about what the merger actually accomplishes, especially for SpaceX, which was already riding high and now has a more complicated story to sell to investors.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          The details:
         </span>
         <span>
          The deal valued SpaceX at about $1 trillion, up from the
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          roughly $800 billion
         </a>
         <span>
          cited in December; xAI was valued at $250 billion, slightly up from its last fund-raising round. (The move required SpaceX to issue about $250 billion of new stock, drastically diluting the stakes of existing investors.)
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Musk argues that the combined company will be better able to set up
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          space-based A.I. data centers
         </a>
         <span>
          , which in theory can transcend the limitations on power use and physical land needs of Earth-based ones. “In the long term, space-based A.I. is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote in a memo to employees that SpaceX also issued publicly.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          The optimist case:
         </span>
         <span>
          The combined company makes SpaceX “a lot more attractive” to investors because it eliminates distractions for Musk, Andrew Rocco, a strategist at Zacks Investment Research, told DealBook.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          SpaceX, which reportedly
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          earned about $8 billion
         </a>
         <span>
          on more than $15 billion in revenue last year, could funnel cash to the money-losing xAI, which has already raised $42 billion from investors since its founding in 2023, according to Pitchbook. (Bloomberg previously reported that xAI was burning through about
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          $1 billion a month
         </a>
         <span>
          .)
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          There are concerns, too:
         </span>
        </p>
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               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                SpaceX, which has been seeking to raise a record $50 billion from its I.P.O., had a relatively clean story to tell: It’s the world’s biggest rocket company and satellite internet operator, and it’s very profitable. But SpaceX must now explain to prospective investors why it also has a deeply unprofitable A.I. arm (one that includes X, a social network that has frequently
               </span>
               <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                run afoul
               </a>
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                of
               </span>
               <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                government regulators
               </a>
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                .)
               </span>
              </li>
              <li style="margin:0 0 10px 0;line-height:27.5px">
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                Making celestial data centers a reality requires solving complex problems including how to cool them (radiators to do so might need to be
               </span>
               <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                bigger than tennis courts
               </a>
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                ) and how to shield them from cosmic radiation. A big issue is cost, with experts reckoning that the price of shipping components to space would need to fall about tenfold. Google projected that this might happen in the 2030s; Musk estimated yesterday that it might happen in two to three years.
               </span>
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        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Michael Sobel, an investor whose firm buys secondary stakes in privately held companies,
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          told The Information
         </a>
         <span>
          that he has heard from SpaceX shareholders who have some questions about the deal. Many are open to its logic and trust Musk, he said, “but they’re like, ‘Hmmm.’”
         </span>
        </p>
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           <h3 style="color:#000;font:700 17px/25px arial,sans-serif;margin:5px 0 30px 0;letter-spacing:.2px">
            <span>
             HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING
            </span>
           </h3>
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        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          President Trump announces a multibillion-dollar stockpile of strategic critical minerals.
         </span>
         <span>
          The $12 billion initiative, known as “Project Vault,” would involve
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          buying and storing minerals for American manufacturers
         </a>
         <span>
          to reduce reliance on China, Trump said at the White House. The stockpile, which he likened to oil reserves, would be financed by $1.7 billion in private funds and a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. General Motors, Stellantis, Boeing and Google are involved.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          India reaches a long-awaited trade deal with the U.S.
         </span>
         <span>
          Trump and India’s prime minister,
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          Narendra Modi
         </a>
         <span>
          , each
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          announced on social media
         </a>
         <span>
          that they had reached an agreement to
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          lower American tariffs
         </a>
         <span>
          on Indian goods to 18 percent, from 50 percent, though
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          details were scarce
         </a>
         <span>
          . Trump said that India would drop its tariffs on some U.S. goods, buy $500 billion in American products and stop buying Russian oil, none of which Modi mentioned. Separately, The Financial Times reports that Japan will
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          announce three deals
         </a>
         <span>
          — part of its commitment to invest $550 billion in the U.S. — soon after the Asian country’s elections next week.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Trump says he is seeking $1 billion from Harvard University.
         </span>
         <span>
          The president
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          made his claim
         </a>
         <span>
          hours after The Times reported that his administration had
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          dropped its demand
         </a>
         <span>
          that the university pay $200 million to settle the government’s allegations that Harvard had mishandled antisemitism on campus. Some figures tied to Harvard told The Times that the school might still need to cut a deal, but others expressed worry that anything seen as aiding Trump would cause a backlash.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Palantir posts a blockbuster quarter.
         </span>
         <span>
          The data company reported about $1.41 billion in revenue for the last three months of 2025, a
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          70 percent year-over-year gain
         </a>
         <span>
          , and forecast revenues for 2026 that topped Wall Street expectations. Palantir’s revenue has skyrocketed during the Trump administration as it has signed large contracts with the government — including with ICE, for whom its software helps find and track immigrants — and as it has benefited from the artificial intelligence boom.
         </span>
        </p>
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        <h2 class="css-10nzuqq" style="color:#000;font:700 25px/32px arial,sans-serif;margin:0 0 10px">
         <span>
          More on the costs of the A.I. race
         </span>
        </h2>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          SpaceX’s union with xAI has underscored a hard reality about the artificial intelligence industry: developing the technology is still really challenging — and expensive.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          While xAI will now benefit from SpaceX’s healthy cash flows, other players in A.I. are still having to raise lots of money. Here’s the latest.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Oracle:
         </span>
         <span>
          Larry Ellison’s tech giant
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          sold $25 billion of bonds
         </a>
         <span>
          yesterday, despite investors being concerned about how much debt the company had already taken on to fund its A.I. ambitions.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          But Oracle appeared to allay investor concerns by pledging to keep its spending in check to maintain an investment-grade credit rating. (The company’s stock is down nearly 50 percent since September as shareholders have begun to worry about the scale of its A.I. infrastructure commitments.)
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          OpenAI and Nvidia:
         </span>
         <span>
          Shares in Nvidia, the chipmaker at the heart of the A.I. boom, fell nearly 3 percent yesterday on reported tensions between the company and OpenAI, one of its biggest customers. The Wall Street Journal had reported, citing unnamed sources, that a
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          $100 billion pledge
         </a>
         <span>
          by Nvidia to invest in OpenAI had stalled amid concerns about OpenAI’s business strategy.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Then, yesterday, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources, that
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          OpenAI had been unhappy
         </a>
         <span>
          with the performance of Nvidia processors for “inference,” the part of A.I. work flow that involves answering user queries. OpenAI had been in talks with companies such as Cerebras and Groq for its needs, Reuters added.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Together, the reports suggest a fissure behind one of the most important bonds in the A.I. industry and raise questions about how OpenAI would meet its funding and chip needs.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Leaders of both companies have sought to play down any perception of friction. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s C.E.O., said over the weekend that his company still planned to make a big investment. And
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          Sam Altman
         </a>
         <span>
          , OpenAI’s chief,
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          posted on social media
         </a>
         <span>
          , “We love working with NVIDIA” and planned to be a customer for a long time. He added, “I don’t get where all this insanity is coming from.”
         </span>
        </p>
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        <h2 class="css-10nzuqq" style="color:#000;font:700 25px/32px arial,sans-serif;margin:0 0 10px">
         <span>
          “Silver is always a death trap.”
         </span>
        </h2>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-style:italic">
          — Rhona O’Connell, an analyst at the financial services firm StoneX, on the
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font-style:italic">
          precious metal’s sudden plunge
         </a>
         <span style="font-style:italic">
          in recent days after it had reached a record $120 an ounce. Retail investors poured $1 billion into silver-focused index funds in January.
         </span>
        </p>
        <table width="100%">
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        <h2 class="css-10nzuqq" style="color:#000;font:700 25px/32px arial,sans-serif;margin:0 0 10px">
         <span>
          More fallout from the latest Epstein files
         </span>
        </h2>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          The Justice Department’s release on Friday of millions of files related to Jeffrey Epstein
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          shed more light
         </a>
         <span>
          on the web of relationships that the convicted sex offender cultivated with prominent names in business, politics, academia and beyond.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          It has also increased scrutiny of some of those implicated in the latest disclosures.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Steve Tisch:
         </span>
         <span>
          Roger Goodell, the N.F.L. commissioner, said that the league would examine
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          the relationship between Tisch
         </a>
         <span>
          , who is co-owner of the N.F.L.’s New York Giants, and Epstein after Tisch’s name appeared in the files. Among their interactions, Epstein and Tisch discussed women in vulgar terms.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          “As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          I deeply regret associating with
         </a>
         <span>
          ,” Tisch said in a statement on Friday, referring to Epstein. Goodell told reporters yesterday, “Absolutely we will look at all the facts.”
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Kathy Ruemmler:
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          Epstein coached Ruemmler
         </a>
         <span>
          , now Goldman Sachs’ general counsel, as she pursued a senior job at Facebook in 2018 and 2019. He drafted messages to Sheryl Sandberg, who was then Facebook’s C.O.O., and lobbied the former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, who was Sandberg’s mentor, on Ruemmler’s behalf.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          “I had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part, and I did not know him as the monster he has been revealed to be,” Ruemmler said in a statement to The Financial Times.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Peter Attia:
         </span>
         <span>
          The physician and longevity influencer’s name
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          appears in more than 1,700 of the released documents
         </a>
         <span>
          , including direct correspondence with Epstein that features crude commentary on women’s bodies. In an
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          extensive social media post
         </a>
         <span>
          on Monday, Attia explained himself as being star-struck in Epstein’s presence.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          “At that point in my career, I had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me,” Attia wrote. “What I wrote in that email reads terribly, and I own that.”
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Jes Staley:
         </span>
         <span>
          An infamous email from Staley, former C.E.O. of Barclays, to Epstein that included the line, “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White,” returned to the forefront. The newly released files showed that Epstein had asked an unidentified woman to
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          buy a Snow White costume
         </a>
         <span>
          just weeks earlier.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          “I honest to God, when I went through the emails I have no idea what this refers to. I have no idea who Snow White is,” Staley testified in court last year during his effort to overturn a lifetime ban on being a senior manager in the British financial services industry.
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Steven Sinofsky:
         </span>
         <span>
          The former president of the Windows Division at Microsoft sought Epstein’s advice as he negotiated his sudden departure from the software giant in 2012. After Microsoft wired Sinofsky funds for his
         </span>
         <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline">
          reported $14 million exit package
         </a>
         <span>
          in 2013, Sinofsky wrote to Epstein, “Got paid. You will be too :)”
         </span>
        </p>
        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span>
          Sinofsky declined to comment when contacted by The Verge.
         </span>
        </p>
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         <span style="font-style:italic">
          We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support.
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           <h3 style="color:#000;font:700 17px/25px arial,sans-serif;margin:5px 0 30px 0;letter-spacing:.2px">
            <span>
             THE SPEED READ
            </span>
           </h3>
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        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
         <span style="font-weight:700;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:#000">
          Deals
         </span>
        </p>
        <div style="margin:0 auto;max-width:600px;width:100%">
         <table>
          <tbody>
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             <ul class="css-1dtd48z" style="color:#000;font:20px georgia,serif;text-align:left;padding-left:50px;list-style-type:square;margin-bottom:10px">
              <li style="margin:0 0 10px 0;line-height:27.5px">
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                OnlyFans, an online platform known for hosting adult content,
               </span>
               <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                entered exclusive talks
               </a>
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                to sell a 60 percent stake to the investment firm Architect Capital at a $3.5 billion valuation. (Bloomberg)
               </span>
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               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                Devon Energy agreed to
               </span>
               <a class="css-sdwaa1" style="color:#286ed0;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                buy a rival, Coterra Energy
               </a>
               <span style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;vertical-align:middle">
                , for $21.5 billion in stock, creating a U.S. oil-and-gas giant. (WSJ)
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        <p style="font:normal 17px/25px georgia,serif;color:#333;margin:0 0 15px">
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          Politics, policy and regulation
         </span>
        </p>
        <div style="margin:0 auto;max-width:600px;width:100%">
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