Remember when special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) dominated Wall Street headlines just a few years ago?
At the center of the frenzy was Chamath Palihapitiya — better known on Wall Street as the “SPAC king”. A former executive at AOL and Meta Platforms turned billionaire venture capitalist (VC), Palihapitiya made his name taking bold bets on disruptive companies.
For a while, SPACs seemed to fade quietly into the background of stock market activity. But just as investors began to write them off, Palihapitiya reignited the conversation with a new prospectus for his latest $250 million “blank check company”: American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. While details are limited at the moment, Palihapitiya has hinted at the kinds of businesses he’s targeting.