Max Chafkin
@chafkin.bsky.social
Reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and co-host of the new podcast "Everybody's Business." Also co-host of "Elon Inc." and author of “The Contarian: Peter Thiel and the Rise of the Silicon Valley Oligarchs.” Msg me on signal: @chafkin.83
Pinned
Come join us!
TONIGHT: Trump defends his economy, and pivots focus to military plans abroad – Tensions erupt in Minneapolis between federal agents and protestors, as prosecutors resign over the Renee Good shooting investigation – & The death toll from Iran’s protests rises as Trump warns of U.S. action.
January 14, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Come join us!
lol thank you. there’s a whole podcast of it!
I like the @chafkin.bsky.social and @svaneksmith.bsky.social "fight" on Bloomberg radio~ let's do that weekly :)
January 9, 2026 at 2:58 PM
lol thank you. there’s a whole podcast of it!
uh there's a lot going on in this one www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/s...
January 8, 2026 at 3:24 PM
uh there's a lot going on in this one www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/s...
Reposted by Max Chafkin
NEW: The business world largely stayed out of the Trump tariff fight -- incl. some fearing "blowback" for opposing the administration. But with a SCOTUS decision looming, the floodgates have opened, with 1,000+ companies so far suing to make sure they get refunds if Trump loses tinyurl.com/2yms7p24
More Than 1,000 Companies Are Suing Trump Over His Tariffs
Companies are flocking to challenge the administration's import taxes in court, after the Supreme Court started asking tough questions
tinyurl.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:51 PM
NEW: The business world largely stayed out of the Trump tariff fight -- incl. some fearing "blowback" for opposing the administration. But with a SCOTUS decision looming, the floodgates have opened, with 1,000+ companies so far suing to make sure they get refunds if Trump loses tinyurl.com/2yms7p24
starting to see signs that the alliance between the white house and corporate america is fraying. predict lots more of this if polling stays where it is www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
More Than 1,000 Companies Are Suing Trump Over His Tariffs
Companies are flocking to challenge the administration's import taxes in court, after the Supreme Court started asking tough questions
www.bloomberg.com
January 8, 2026 at 2:50 PM
starting to see signs that the alliance between the white house and corporate america is fraying. predict lots more of this if polling stays where it is www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
the weirdest part is the extremely loud insistence that grok, etc are bringing alien super intelligence or whatever when they're actually doing basically lowest common denominator content farming www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Musk’s Grok AI Generated Thousands of Undressed Images Per Hour on X
Elon Musk’s X has become a top site for images of people that have been non-consensually undressed by AI, according to a third-party analysis, with thousands of instances each hour over a day earlier ...
www.bloomberg.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:06 PM
the weirdest part is the extremely loud insistence that grok, etc are bringing alien super intelligence or whatever when they're actually doing basically lowest common denominator content farming www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Well, Trumps biggest donor will be happy www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
US Sanctions Former EU Official, Others in Swipe at Europe
The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on former European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton and four other people for trying to make American tech companies police political speech...
www.bloomberg.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Well, Trumps biggest donor will be happy www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Lol this image www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
December 12, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Lol this image www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Bunch of ai news today. Will be talking about it on MSNOW shortly!
TONIGHT: Senate rejects health care bills as premiums are set to spike for millions next month – new reporting on the White House preparing to seize more oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela – & Disney’s deal with OpenAI, and what it could mean for the future of media and artificial intelligence.
December 12, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Bunch of ai news today. Will be talking about it on MSNOW shortly!
Here are 4500 words on the AWESOME POWER OF MICROSOFT EXCEL (gift link!) www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Microsoft Is the House That Excel Built
The ubiquitous spreadsheet software is expensive, derivative and depressing. It’s also the software the world can’t quit, even in the era of AI tools.
www.bloomberg.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Here are 4500 words on the AWESOME POWER OF MICROSOFT EXCEL (gift link!) www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
legal questions aside, crazy how far the politics on this issue have shifted. there was a time when instacarts position that "worker freedom" or whatever should trump the idea of minimum wage might be popular. hard to think that'll be true now finance.yahoo.com/news/instaca...
Instacart sues New York City over worker pay, tipping laws
NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Instacart sued New York City on Tuesday to block enforcement of five laws affecting the grocery delivery company, including rules governing minimum pay for app-based worke...
finance.yahoo.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
legal questions aside, crazy how far the politics on this issue have shifted. there was a time when instacarts position that "worker freedom" or whatever should trump the idea of minimum wage might be popular. hard to think that'll be true now finance.yahoo.com/news/instaca...
it me
Several people have asked me to explain Lane Kiffin to them today; they have all loved the tarmac story
December 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
it me
Loved this love letter to Mallrats (VHS edition)
wrote about the kind of cinema that can only be appreciated in a friend's basement. that's right, I wrote about MALLRATS!
www.theringer.com/2025/11/24/m...
www.theringer.com/2025/11/24/m...
“The Little Movie That Couldn’t”: ‘Mallrats’ Turns 30
In the fall of 1995, Kevin Smith’s second film was a box office humiliation. Now, it’s become an embarrassment of riches. We chat with Smith about the movie and how it forever altered his career.
www.theringer.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Loved this love letter to Mallrats (VHS edition)
This is such a good point. There is no good reason to use chatgpt for recipes, and yet tech cos are basically forcing it on people in order (it seems) swallow food blogging along with news and everything else
This is so funny because recipes can literally already be copied and reposted with no attribution or copyright. All AI does here is add statistical noise and make the stolen content useless. AI can’t even steal content without fucking it up.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 4:36 PM
This is such a good point. There is no good reason to use chatgpt for recipes, and yet tech cos are basically forcing it on people in order (it seems) swallow food blogging along with news and everything else
honestly might need to bring back elon inc just to chew over this one
November 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
honestly might need to bring back elon inc just to chew over this one
new epsiode in which professional epstein email reader Max Abelson talks through what we think might be in the epstein files www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
What Might Be Inside the Epstein Files?
On this episode, we discuss why your Thanksgiving turkey may be cheaper this year and untangle the business dealings of the late Jefferey Epstein.
www.bloomberg.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
new epsiode in which professional epstein email reader Max Abelson talks through what we think might be in the epstein files www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
if you're wondering what the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from tech billionaires/giant tech companies bought, its this (among other things) www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Here’s the Trump executive order that would ban state AI laws
Trump is launching an all-out broadside against states with strict AI regulations.
www.theverge.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
if you're wondering what the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from tech billionaires/giant tech companies bought, its this (among other things) www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
ICYMI Ellen’s boom came out yesterday. We published an excerpt a couple of weeks ago. It’s great. Buy it!!!
Excerpt here: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Excerpt here: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
November 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM
ICYMI Ellen’s boom came out yesterday. We published an excerpt a couple of weeks ago. It’s great. Buy it!!!
Excerpt here: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Excerpt here: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
This was a really fun, smart, challenging conversation. Hope people enjoy it as much as I did!
Check out the new Factually! episode with @chafkin.bsky.social wherever you get podcasts!
» Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
» Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/27My...
» YouTube: youtu.be/1lUgPpQy1eA
» Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
» Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/27My...
» YouTube: youtu.be/1lUgPpQy1eA
America’s Secret Technofacist Overlord, with Max Chafkin
YouTube video by Adam Conover
youtu.be
November 19, 2025 at 8:06 PM
This was a really fun, smart, challenging conversation. Hope people enjoy it as much as I did!
This on the money. Obviously it’s possible we’re at the top for AI/Nvidia, but Thiel often sells off his stakes well before the top in any given market cycle.
Peter Thiel selling is not a signal. One of his defining features as an investor has been to sell early when he can take outsized profits and hedge.
For example, he would be massively richer if he had never sold most of his stake in Facebook.
For example, he would be massively richer if he had never sold most of his stake in Facebook.
Might not be tomorrow, but it will happen. See: 3/3 ca.investing.com/news/stock-m...
November 17, 2025 at 7:52 PM
This on the money. Obviously it’s possible we’re at the top for AI/Nvidia, but Thiel often sells off his stakes well before the top in any given market cycle.
reading this it looks like the breaking rust news cycle was basically BS. we're talking about a chart that reflects paid digital downloads, which is (a) a market with almost no customers (b) one you could (I think) buy your way to the top of by spending $2500 www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
November 17, 2025 at 3:27 PM
reading this it looks like the breaking rust news cycle was basically BS. we're talking about a chart that reflects paid digital downloads, which is (a) a market with almost no customers (b) one you could (I think) buy your way to the top of by spending $2500 www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
new episode of Everybody's Business. We try to make the case for a very very long mortgage and Real American @amandamull.bsky.social explains Ulta Beauty to out of touch coastal elites who shop at Sephora www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The Case for a Mortgage Policy That Almost Everyone Hates
Donald Trump floated 50-year mortgages as a salve for affordability and was roundly criticized. On this episode, we explore whether he was on to something.
www.bloomberg.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:24 PM
new episode of Everybody's Business. We try to make the case for a very very long mortgage and Real American @amandamull.bsky.social explains Ulta Beauty to out of touch coastal elites who shop at Sephora www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Will be talking Thiel, Silicon Valley and the tech right
November 14, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Will be talking Thiel, Silicon Valley and the tech right
Locked out of X the everything app because I was using two factor, they screwed something up, and honestly…blessing in disguise so far
November 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Locked out of X the everything app because I was using two factor, they screwed something up, and honestly…blessing in disguise so far