Mastodawn

#ElonMusk has made a particularly bold demand of his #WallStreet advisers ahead of the #IPO of #SpaceX.

#Musk is requiring banks, law firms, auditors & other advisers working on the IPO to buy subscriptions to #Grok, his #AI #chatbot, which is part of SpaceX, acc/to 4 people with knowledge….

Some of the banks have agreed to spend tens of millions on the chatbot, & they have already started integrating Grok into their #IT systems….

#tech #business #law #SEC #antitrust
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/business/spacex-ipo-grok-elon-musk.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Big Banks Seeking a Piece of SpaceX’s I.P.O. Must Subscribe to Elon Musk’s Grok

Mr. Musk is requiring Wall Street firms to purchase subscriptions to his A.I. chatbot if they want to advise on one of the largest initial public offerings in history.

The New York Times

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Nonilex 1d ago

…Musk’s ability to secure #business from the banks for his #AI #chatbot shows the enormous sway of the world’s richest man over a banking sector clamoring for his business now & into the future.

The banks’ purchases of #Grok subscriptions were not merely good-will gestures, acc/to 3 people with knowledge of the arrangements. #Musk insisted that they purchase the chatbot services. He has also asked the banks to advertise on #X, …but was less adamant about that request, acc/to 2 of those people.

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Stuck Here

@Nonilex

A friend of mine used to bartend at the Four Seasons down in the Caribbean. A guest who was big in the business of selling bottled water didn't want to see any other brands on the property during his family's week-long stay. So his bottled water was the only one for sale during his stay. After he left all the other water came back out of storage. The wealthy guy's water that was left was just handed out for free til it was gone.

Bending over for $$ is ingrained in the service sector.