In This Story
Elon Musk says he is ready to turn his attention — and his money — back to business and away from politics.
Suggested Reading
How Trump’s tariffs could make your iPhone cost $3,500
Suggested Reading
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk, appearing virtually for an at times contentious interview with Bloomberg News at the Qatar Economic Forum, said Tuesday. “I think I’ve done enough,” he added.
Federal disclosures show Musk spent $290 million in the 2024 election cycle, much of it to help elect Donald Trump as president. Earlier this year, Musk spent $25 million on a Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. But I don’t see a reason,” Musk said.
Musk said a lot of his time is spent traveling between Washington, Europe, and his Silicon Valley ventures.
Musk is devoting one to two days a week to government work, he told Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain, and the rest of the time on his businesses. He pushed back on Husain’s suggestion that his political activities have hurt his businesses.
“Tesla (TSLA) is a very aspirational brand and there are people driving around with stickers on their cars saying ‘I bought this before I knew Musk was crazy’,” Husain said, adding that Musk’s political activities have hurt Tesla sales.
Musk said that sales are already turned around and that EVs sales as a whole are down.
“Our stock wouldn’t be trading near all time highs if things were not in good shape. Things are fine. Don’t worry about it,” Musk said.
Wedbush Securities analyst and Tesla bull Dan Ives has said that some damage has already been done by Musk’s political activities.
“The brand damage caused by Musk in the White House/DOGE over the past few months will not go away,” Ives wrote recently. “Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk.”
But Musk defended his government work during the interview.
“I did what needed to be done,” Musk said, decrying “massive violence” committed against his companies and threats against him.
“Who are these people? Why would these people do this? They are on the wrong side of history and evil. What is wrong with these people? I have not harmed anyone. Something needs to be done about them,” Musk said.
Musk also pushed back against allegations of conflict of interest between his businesses, which have government contracts, and his role in the government.
“Many advisors throughout U.S. history have had economic interests. The President can choose to accept or not,” Musk said.
—Shannon Carroll contributed to this article.
Read More
Kevin Williams