Slate Money

Spice World

AI company valuations become astronomical, McCormick and Unilever create a spice super-company, and the WNBA makes a landmark deal.

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Episode Notes

This week: OpenAI completed a $122 billion investment round. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss what this deal says about the private and public markets and try to wrap their heads around the astronomical valuations of OpenAI and SpaceX.

Then, Maryland-based spice company, McCormick, announced it will merge with Unilever’s food division to create a new spice and sauce mega-company. The hosts discuss the unusual case of a smaller company absorbing a larger one, and why Unilever’s stock is currently plummeting.

Finally, the hosts break down the WNBA’s landmark collective bargaining agreement and why Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin was the MVP of the negotiation.

In the Slate Plus episode: The largest single home sale on record.

Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

Bonus Episode: The £270 Million House

The record-breaking home sale doesn’t mean you’ll actually own the land.Apparently A.I. is not ready to take on the U.S. tax code.

Bonus Episode

Bonus: The £270 Million House

The record-breaking home sale doesn’t mean you’ll actually own the land.

About the Show

A weekly roundup of the most important stories from the worlds of business and finance, hosted by Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers.

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Hosts

  • Emily Peck is the co-host of Slate Money and a markets correspondent for Axios.

  • Felix Salmon is a host of the Slate Money podcast.

  • Elizabeth Spiers is Slate’s Pay Dirt columnist. She was the founding editor of Gawker and the former editor in chief of the New York Observer. Prior to Gawker, she was a financial analyst.