Founder & CEO, Altimeter Capital
Search every verified Brad Gerstner interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, has been a prominent public advocate for the "Invest America" initiative, which launched as "Trump Accounts" on July 4, 2026. The program, signed into law the previous year, creates a government-administered investment account for every child born in the United States, seeding each account with $1,000 invested in the S&P 500. Gerstner described the initiative as "the largest unlock of direct philanthropy in the history of the country" and stated that its goal is to make every child a shareholder in America, closing the wealth gap. He noted that the president asked him and Michael Dell to raise $100 billion for the accounts, and he reported a "hit rate" of over 90% among S&P 500 companies. Gerstner also expressed opposition to proposals that would have the government take shares from companies, calling such ideas "totally socialist." On the topic of artificial intelligence, Gerstner has been a vocal commentator on the competitive landscape. He stated that Anthropic "kicked OpenAI's ass over the last 90 days," attributing its success to a focused strategy on coding and co-work. He argued that the total addressable market for intelligence is "radically different than anything that we've seen before" and that AI is contributing over 100 basis points to U.S. GDP growth. Regarding the SpaceX IPO, Gerstner said the company's move into building AI data centers and securing a deal with Anthropic "totally changed the game" for its valuation. He also commented on data infrastructure companies, noting that Snowflake, Databricks, and ClickHouse are "all in the token flow" and that increased AI token consumption accelerates their core data business.
“I think this company can be worth over $500 billion over the course of the next 5 to seven years. I think it will be extraordinary and we have one of the best management teams in the business going against one of the biggest TAMs in the business and delivering a really beloved service.”
“I've abhored the accredited investor laws for as long as I can remember because as securities lawyer, you know, I remember studying securities law in law school and saying to myself, 'Hold on. You mean to tell me that we've rigged the game?' So only rich people can invest in the best companies.”
“The president asked Michael Dell and I to go out and raise a hundred billion dollars for these Trump accounts, and we're well on our way. We're we've already have commitments of tens of billions of dollars into these accounts, and I would say across corporate America, across the business round table, across the S&P 500...”
“I do not believe the government should be in the business of shaking down companies, taking shares like Bernie is suggesting suggesting and then putting them into some slush fund for the government. I that is totally a socialist idea. We are anti-that idea. I don't care if that idea is being proposed proposed by a Repu...”
“This is not a program. This is a platform. It is the largest unlock of direct philanthropy in the history of the country.”
“I do not believe the government should be in the business of shaking down companies, taking shares like Bernie is suggesting suggesting and then putting them into some slush fund for the government. I that is totally a socialist idea. We are anti that idea. I don't care if that idea is being repos proposed by a Republi...”
“60 to 70% of Americans aren't feeling connected to the American dream. They're not participating in the upside of compounding. This changes all that. This makes every child a shareholder from birth, and they will be able to compound for a lifetime in the upside of the capital markets. That's how we close the wealth gap...”
“This is a transformational new type of philanthropy in America at scale. Remember when Berkshire, when Warren Buffett tried to give all his money to the Gates Foundation and was frustrated by the overhead and the lack of success and return on that investment. Now imagine that instead, he could just give a share of Berk...”
“I don't trust shares in the hands of some future politicians that can coerce or liquidate and spend on whatever their political beliefs are.”
“I don't believe in taxing or taking shares from companies. You know, that's not what this country is all about. We don't just have a government. We fought a revolution to end in 50 years ago so that the king couldn't show up and just take 3 acres of land because they decided on on some given day that that their land yo...”
“I think this is the most strategically unique asset ever to come to market and they're going to have enormous pricing power. The one risk is their biggest clients, the US government. So when you have that type of type of pricing power, monopolistic pricing power where your costs are coming in tremendously and and your...”
“Make no mistake about it. This valuation hangs on the fact that we have huge demand for an AI compute future, right? They just sold this compute to Anthropic and Google at a big premium, Scott, because we we are out of compute in this country. If you look at Noam Brown, who's one of the lead researchers at OpenAI, I'd...”
“I think it's a high probability event. Um I would frankly encourage Elon and you know for his own sanity to do it. You know running these two public companies that have such an overlapping mission. I mean you know at the the primitive of robotics is AI, right? And so you you know you you now rather than having four dif...”
“I do, you know, on the one hand, I think it's important to realize that success like this is a feature of our system, not a bug. It drives the GDP of the country. It grows aggregate wealth in the country. But the reason we started Invest America and Trump accounts four years ago is because the returns on capital today...”
“Every child under two, remember, is going to get a thousand dollars automatically funded on July 4th. Most kids between the age of two and 10 will get at least $250. If they're in a state like Connecticut, they'll get $500. Or Indiana, they'll get $500. And kids between the age of 10 and 18 get a free lifetime 401k, ri...”
We hear a lot these days about hedge funds becoming venture firms, and venture firms becoming hedge funds. But a decade ...
#businessnews #financialnews #stockmarketnews Brad Gerstner breaks down the current AI race and corporate tech competition on CNBC. Get expert insights on the future of LLMs. Altimeter Capital founder Brad Gerstner joins CNBC for a candid analysis of the tech sector. This discussion covers how major corporations are adapting to the rapid rise of large language models. If you follow market trends or want to understand how the AI race is shaping enterprise strategy, this overview provides clear context on the shifting landscape. Gerstner offers his perspective on the ongoing tech competition…
This conversation was recorded LIVE at the All-In Summit in Miami and included slides. To watch on YouTube, check out our All-In Summit playlist: https://bit.ly/aisytplaylist 0:00 Bill Gurley & Brad Gerstner break down the state and historical significance of 2022's market downturn 12:27 How VCs will handle capital commitments from LPs, underwriting startups in the new reality 24:14 Bull run mistakes, why VCs don't underwrite lower valuations, handling distributions 33:52 Gurley's take on WeCrashed & Super Pumped TV series, how sophisticated investors got "gaslit" by the market, in…
Altimeter Capital founder and CEO Brad Gerstner joins CNBC's Squawk Box from the White House on the morning Trump accounts go live, the child investment accounts created by the Invest America Act. He walks through the launch, Gwynne Shotwell's gift of 2 million SpaceX shares, the drive to get corporate America to match, and how gifted stock is treated under the new Treasury rules. The conversation then turns to AI: Alex Karp's criticism of the big model labs, whether AI platforms compete unfairly with their partners, the outlook for AI revenue, IPO timing for Anthropic and OpenAI, and wher…
On July 4th, the administration officially launched Trump Accounts, a new savings and investing vehicle for kids under 18 in the U.S. One of the orchestrators, Silicon Valley investor Brad Gerstner, explains the platform, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell’s donation to it, and the vision for the American dream. Plus, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married at MSG in New York over the holiday weekend, and President Trump gave multiple speeches for the 250th celebration of American independence, highlighting a commitment to freedom and opposition to communism. In this episode: Joe Kernen, @JoeSqu…
Brad Gerstner, Founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, joins CNBC's "Halftime Report” to talk about Trump Accounts launching on ...
Altimeter Founder & CEO Brad Gerstner joined CNBC Halftime's Scott Wapner to share his view on markets this week: mega caps rebounding, chips catching their breath, and what he called a healthy consolidation after a strong run. Brad noted he continues to watch AI related revenue growth as a key signal going forward. More importantly, this Saturday, Invest America Trump Accounts launch, seeding every child born in America with $1,000 in the S&P 500 at birth, compounding for life. Micron, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are already in. Monday: a historic NYSE and NASDAQ bell ringing from the…
Brad Gerstner — the Altimeter Capital founder who led Anthropic's $965 BILLION funding round — doesn't mince words: in just 90 days, Anthropic "kicked OpenAI's ass." On the All-In Podcast, Gerstner breaks down the most violent power shift in AI: how a company that was "literally counted out of the game last year" overtook OpenAI to become the most valuable AI lab on earth. No multimodal. No video. No hardware. No chips. Just coding, co-work, and a relentless bet on the path to AGI — and ASI. Then it gets darker. Anthropic is now so far ahead that it WITHHELD its newest model, Mythos, calling…
On June 12, 2026, Altimeter founder and CEO Brad Gerstner joined Scott Wapner on CNBC Halftime Report live from the New York Stock Exchange to break down what the biggest IPO in history means for investors, AI infrastructure, and American innovation. Brad made the case that SpaceX's transformation into an AI hyperscaler in just six weeks, securing major compute deals with Anthropic and Google, changes the entire investment thesis. With the world running out of compute and no such thing as a dark GPU, Brad argued SpaceX is potentially best positioned to meet that demand at scale. Brad also co…
Brad Gerstner joined Scott Wapner on CNBC Halftime to discuss AI infrastructure, data platforms, and the current market environment. A few highlights from the conversation: “Data is the oil that runs the AI engine.” Brad discussed how increased AI usage and token consumption are impacting data infrastructure companies, including Snowflake, Databricks, and ClickHouse. On Snowflake’s recent quarter, Brad noted the company delivered “33% growth, accelerating growth versus consensus of 27% growth,” calling it “an absolute spectacular well-deserved blockbuster day.” Brad also discussed how he thi…
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