Hello, you're listening to Money Talks on Economist Radio. Our weekly podcast on the

markets, the economy and the world of business. I'm Simon Long, an editor of the Economist

and today we're investigating Wall Street's latest craze, special purpose acquisition

companies, or SPACs. The Wii Private companies go public and raise capital is changing and

everyone from super celebrities to retail investors wants a piece of the action.

But are these so-called blank check firms, just a craze, a useful innovation, or both?

One way to think of SPACs is as a sort of rebellion to Wall Street's typical way of doing

things. By offering an alternative to the traditional IPO, could SPACs transform tech investing

and even supercharge innovation. For the good companies, it represents more leverage,

more options, more opportunities, and in general, more power for those Silicon Valley entities

that can play this game the right way. And how does this affect the Post-Brexit battle

to become the financial capital of Europe? Because the EU didn't grant Britain so-called

equivalence that European trading migrated to the continent and it ended up in Amsterdam.

When you think of famous big investors, you might think of Warren Buffett, Peter Tio,

or perhaps Neil Shen. Former sports stars like Shaquille O'Neill and Colin Keppernick

probably aren't top of your list. But Mr O'Neill, famous in his basketball heyday for

his signature Shaquille-Tack style, is joining a multitude of new entrants to the world

of investment. And instead of the Shaquille-Tack, he's investing in the SPAC attack.

SPAC. The blank check bananza, or SPAC a polluza.

SPAC, SPAC, SPAC, SPAC, SPAC. Everybody needs to have a SPAC.

Last year, these companies raised more than $83 billion. We're barely a fifth of the

way into 2021, and the total raised is already over $74 billion, according to the website

...