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Third Point CEO Reveals Government Made Tough Investment Deal in Quantum Company

All-In Podcast · Dan Loeb: The Lost Art of Short Selling, and Why Stock Picking is Back · June 5, 2026
Third Point CEO Reveals Government Made Tough Investment Deal in Quantum Company
All-In Podcast
All-In Podcast
Dan Loeb: The Lost Art of Short Selling, and Why Stock Picking is Back
"We were just super impressed that they how they contracted with us to engage with them in cryptography and to meet the government's needs, but also in the financial component. They drove a really tough bargain. The government, the taxpayers are going to make a ton of money on this."
Dan Loeb disclosed that portfolio company Atom Computing received government funding with unusually favorable terms for taxpayers. He praised the Biden administration's rare success in a public-private partnership where the government acts as both investor and customer in quantum computing, specifically cryptography applications, noting the government will capture significant financial returns.

About this episode

In this wide-ranging conversation, legendary activist investor Dan Loeb, CEO and CIO of Third Point, sat down to discuss his evolution from self-described 'original troll' on 1990s internet stock boards to managing nearly $30 billion across multiple strategies. Loeb revealed he anonymously taunted management teams of fraudulent companies he was shorting in the Wild West era of early internet chat boards, before anticipating he would run institutional capital. The discussion covered his investing philosophy's transformation from purely event-driven and catalyst-focused strategies to emphasizing business quality, management adaptability, and technological moats in an AI-driven era. Loeb made the contrarian call that Nvidia remains undervalued despite its unprecedented market capitalization, arguing long-short funds are structurally forced to short it as a 'safe' position, repeating historical mistakes with Google and Amazon. He disclosed government investment terms in portfolio company Atom Computing that he praised as taxpayer-favorable, a rare public-private partnership success. David Sacks joined to candidly discuss massive missed gains, including selling Palantir in the $20s and Enphase under $1, missing billions in returns. The conversation shifted to criminal justice reform and education, where Loeb directly blamed teachers unions for perpetuating income inequality by abandoning accountability and merit to benefit adults over vulnerable children. He detailed his successful four-year campaign to secure Ross Ulbricht's presidential pardon, working with Charlie Kirk and White House Counsel David Warrington to free the Silk Road founder from a double-life-plus-40-years sentence Loeb deemed disproportionate.

Key takeaways

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