Passive investing was designed to track the market, not shape it. But as Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek explore in the second episode of The Portfolio Reset, the enormous growth of passive investing has changed the market it was built to follow, just as some of the world’s most valuable companies are staying private for longer.

Using SpaceX as an example, they examine the changing relationship between public and private markets and why no investment is truly passive — someone is always making a decision somewhere in the process. As passive flows grow powerful enough to move markets, Merryn and John explain why investors should make sure they’re making active decisions in pursuit of their own financial goals, rather than leaving those decisions in the hands of strangers. 

Passive investing was designed to track the market, not shape it. But as Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek explore in the second episode of <a href="bbg://news/stories/TMVPTHRKV2U0" data-web-url="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-14/us-stocks-won-the-last-decade-what-about-the-next-one" data-cke-saved-href="bbg://news/stories/TMVPTHRKV2U0">The Portfolio Reset</a>, the enormous growth of passive investing has changed the market it was built to follow,&nbsp;just as some of the world&rsquo;s most valuable companies are staying private for longer.
Using SpaceX as an example, they examine the changing relationship between public and private markets and why no investment is truly passive &mdash; someone is always making a decision somewhere in the process. As passive flows grow powerful enough to move markets, Merryn and John explain why investors should make sure they&rsquo;re making active decisions in pursuit of their own financial goals, rather than leaving those decisions in the hands of strangers.&nbsp;

Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.

Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.

Merryn Talks Money

The Portfolio Reset: Episode 2 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d74b1169-fd55-4d58-badd-b4e90158e681/transcript