| Hey, it's Zeke. Social media influencers with stature and charisma tend to monetize their following by promoting some sort of salable product—say, a detox tea or a line of home goods. Chamath Palihapitiya has the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company. The tech billionaire and Golden State Warriors co-owner has started six SPACs, raised more than $4 billion, and says he'll eventually do 26 deals, one for every letter of the alphabet. He pitches them as a way for a regular investor to get in on the kind of private deals that made him rich. Palihapitiya "created a template that all SPACers could follow," Shark Tank host and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told me. "He knew what made them work and created a narrative that new investors could understand." But, as I write in this week's Bloomberg Businessweek cover story, the SPAC boom has turned into a bust of late. Since their peak in February, SPAC shares have dropped 24% on average. Palihapitiya's SPACs, which had climbed quicker, fell faster, too, dropping 50% on average. Know who's up? Palihapitiya. The deals are structured so he practically can't lose. He claims he now controls a $10 billion to $15 billion fortune—triple where he was about a year ago. How'd he do it? Read my story, or listen here. —Zeke Faux  Chamath Palihapitiya Photographer: Bloomberg Businessweek/Bloomberg | 
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