{"id":810504,"date":"2024-12-06T10:16:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/06\/how-elon-musks-worst-business-decision-led-him-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2024-12-06T10:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:16:39","slug":"how-elon-musks-worst-business-decision-led-him-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/06\/how-elon-musks-worst-business-decision-led-him-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"How Elon Musk\u2019s worst business decision led him to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New York<\/span> CNN<\/span> \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 <\/cite><\/p>\n

Elon Musk, the world\u2019s richest person, will be taking on an official role<\/a> to try to help President-elect Donald Trump make government more efficient. It will add yet another responsibility to an ever-growing to-do list for the increasingly distracted CEO and business leader.<\/p>\n

Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, owner of X and CEO of other ventures, including Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company, is already a busy guy. Even if the Trump job is just a side hustle (the announcement said it\u2019s kind of an advisory gig), it\u2019s one more thing for Musk to do that isn\u2019t running the world\u2019s most valuable car company.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: Musk\u2019s recent distractions may not ultimately matter for his (many) businesses. And there\u2019s actually a strong case to be made that they\u2019re paying off for investors.<\/p>\n

Tesla, Musk\u2019s most valuable company, in recent years has struggled to maintain its dominance of the electric vehicle market. Sales slowed as Tesla faces increased competition on both the higher end and lower end of the market, and Tesla was recently overtaken by Chinese rival BYD for EV sales. Meanwhile, Tesla has faced numerous federal investigations over its self-driving technology, and the company\u2019s long-promised autonomous \u201cCybercab\u201d announcement<\/a> last month included a number of pie-in-the-sky promises that sounded like a lot of fluff<\/a> \u2013 even coming from notorious over-promiser Musk.<\/p>\n

But, for Tesla investors, that\u2019s all been in the rear view mirror over the past week. Tesla\u2019s (TSLA<\/a>) stock has surged 31% since Election Day, because investors believe that Musk\u2019s influence in Trump\u2019s government<\/a> will usher in an era of deregulation \u2013 particularly in key industries and technologies that could benefit the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefits of Musk\u2019s involvement in Trump\u2019s government outweigh the negatives,\u201d said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. \u201cTesla investors want Musk more involved in the Trump White House \u2013 not less \u2013 because of his influence on advancing AI, China tariffs and fast-tracking autonomous driving regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk, Tesla\u2019s largest individual shareholder, has personally reaped the rewards of the stock\u2019s surge. He\u2019s $55 billion richer today than he was on Election Day, according to Bloomberg\u2019s Billionaires Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has stated his disdain for electric vehicles, but that ultimately may not matter much for Tesla \u2013 in fact, eliminating tax credits may help Tesla<\/a> by reducing competition that relies more heavily on them to boost sales demand. Also, multiple federal investigations of Tesla\u2019s self-driving technology could vanish, Ives said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to keep a leg (and entire astronauts) up on the competition, and an era of deregulation under Trump could similarly help the company. SpaceX\u2019s valuation reportedly topped an astounding $200 billion earlier this year, according to Bloomberg<\/a>, and after a Boeing snafu with its Starliner<\/a>, SpaceX had to come rescue astronauts stranded by its crippled rival. And the company is now catching rocket boosters out of the air with \u201cchopsticks<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

X, by contrast, has clearly struggled under Musk \u2013 it has lost 80% of its value<\/a>, according to Fidelity, as advertisers flee the social network that has become a free-for-all for hate speech and conspiracy theories. But that\u2019s not because Musk has been distracted \u2013 if anything, participation on X has become Musk\u2019s primary focus, with constant posts espousing his increasingly right-wing views.<\/p>\n

But, ironically, Musk\u2019s controversial \u2013 and expensive \u2013 $44 billion purchase of then-Twitter (now X) in 2022 set in motion his descent into the MAGA rabbit hole \u2013 and ascent in Trumpworld that propelled him to a role in which he has the next president\u2019s ear. And that has given Tesla a valuation north of $1 trillion. It\u2019s one of just nine companies on the stock market with a 13-figure valuation.<\/p>\n

Ives called Musk\u2019s path a \u201cTwilight Zone jigsaw puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a ride that feels like it\u2019s just starting,\u201d Ives noted.<\/p>\n

Of course, that\u2019s if Trump and Musk remain on good terms. Trump has a long list of former allies who fell out of favor for one reason or another. And no matter how much power and influence Musk could yield, Trump will hold the ultimate trump card: He\u2019ll be president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Elon Musk, the world\u2019s richest person, will be taking on an official role to try to help President-elect Donald Trump make government more efficient. It will add yet another responsibility to an ever-growing to-do list for the increasingly distracted CEO and business leader. Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, owner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":810505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,2097],"tags":[6218,9827],"class_list":{"0":"post-810504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-musks","8":"category-worst","9":"tag-musks","10":"tag-worst"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}