Money

File photo: Photo: SpaceX, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Musk says every US child will get a SpaceX share. There is no plan yet.

Elon Musk has pledged one SpaceX share to every child in America next year. No eligibility rules, timetable or delivery mechanism have been published, so for now it is a promise in search of a plan, and a very large one.

Starbase, Texas · October 20, 2026

File photo: Photo: Gugalcrom123, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

French borrowing costs near a 24 year high, and the street is part of the price

Ten year French yields climbed to 4.96 percent on Tuesday, within a whisker of levels last seen in 2002, as the unrest met a budget France cannot pass and a debt it cannot shrink. The street has a vote. So does the bond market.

Paris, France · October 20, 2026

Waymo picks Toronto for its first robotaxis in Canada, with riders due in 2028

Alphabet's driverless unit will start by driving Toronto's streets itself, mapping them the slow way before any robot takes the wheel. Ontario has let it into the province's automated vehicle pilot, and a Toronto winter may be its hardest examiner yet.

Toronto, Canada · October 18, 2026

File photo: Photo: European Parliament / EC Audiovisual Service, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

SoftBank is weighing an $18 billion move for a security guard giant

Allied Universal supplies guards to businesses, venues and a growing number of data centres. SoftBank, reports say, would pair some of those people with robots. The talks are preliminary, no price is settled, and neither side is saying much.

Tokyo, Japan · October 18, 2026

File photo: Photo: Coolcaesar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Netflix is cutting 1,000 jobs while the money is still good

The cuts take out about 6 percent of the workforce and are the streamer's biggest round of layoffs since 2022. They land less than a week before third quarter results, and the odd part is the context: revenue is growing, viewing is not.

Los Gatos, California · October 18, 2026

File photo: Photo: Arne Müseler, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

Rich at the top, bleeding below: following football's money

The Premier League's television billions built a global product, and the English game took in £9 billion last season. Further down the pyramid, clubs are losing money they do not have. Our long read follows the numbers to where they stop adding up.

London, England · October 18, 2026