Minute by minute, post by post, Elon Musk’s very public, extremely online feud with US President Donald Trump sliced into his vaunted status as the world’s richest person.
The final damage at day’s end: US$34-billion erased from his personal net worth, the second-largest loss ever in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the 500 wealthiest people on the planet. The only bigger one: his own wipeout in November 2021.
The tit-for-tat was surreal, and also, in some ways, potentially inevitable for a US president who has used the Oval Office to dress down world leaders and a chief executive who has a history of launching himself from one crusade to another. The trigger was Musk’s sudden push, just days after he departed from Washington, to muster enough support to “kill” Trump’s signature “Big, Beautiful Bill”.
Musk, who’s still the world’s richest person with a vast $335-billion fortune, has endured any number of routs before. But the stakes are higher than ever in contending with Trump, as the president laid bare when he proposed ending Musk’s government contracts, in a potential blow to Tesla and SpaceX revenue.
In true Muskian fashion, the billionaire responded on X with five words uttered by Clint Eastwood’s character in Sudden Impact: “Go ahead, make my day.” He followed up by alleging, without evidence, that Trump’s name appears in the files related to the late New York financier Jeffrey Epstein, and then said SpaceX would begin to decommission its Dragon spacecraft — a critical link to space for the US, which depends on Musk’s company to ferry cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.
War of words
The war of words is a sharp departure from the months following Trump’s election win, when Musk’s net worth reached an all-time high approaching $500-billion. His companies’ valuations surged, buoyed by expectations that they would benefit from the billionaire’s relationship with Trump and his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk officially left Washington last week.
The escalating spat raises questions about the path forward for Tesla, which once appealed to climate-conscious drivers but has since become synonymous with Trump’s Maga priorities, alienating traditional, left-leaning consumers. The electric car maker’s shares fell 14% on Thursday to $284.70.
Musk, for his part, polled his X followers on Thursday about whether it is “time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle”.
Read: Musk targeting next year for first SpaceX Mars mission
As big of a loss as Musk took on Thursday, it might not encompass the full hit to his wealth since it doesn’t reflect any damage to the value of his private enterprises — an increasingly important source of his net worth.
SpaceX, the world’s most valuable private start-up, was valued at $350-billion in an insider share sale in December, adding $50-billion to Musk’s fortune. The deal partially reflected optimism that it would gain from Musk’s links to the Trump administration; total revenue for SpaceX and Tesla from federal unclassified contracts since fiscal year 2000 is $22.5-billion, according to Bloomberg Government data.
Musk’s other enterprises, including AI and social media company xAI Holdings, could also suffer from the spat, especially given Trump’s own fortune is tied to his competing Trump Media & Technology Group.
Even the brain implant start-up Neuralink, which in recent weeks raised $650-million in a funding round that valued it at $9-billion, could be put through the wringer if Trump decided to target it through agencies like the Food and Drug Administration.
Musk earlier this week began lambasting the spending bill narrowly passed by the house of representatives, arguing it would add too much to the government’s debt load and calling it a “disgusting abomination”. The congressional budget office projects it would add $2.4-trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
Read: Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments
The bill calls for eliminating electric vehicle tax credits, which Trump has said is the root cause of Musk’s frustration. JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts have estimated that the provisions would cut about $1.2-billion from Tesla’s full-year profit. — Dylan Sloan and Tom Maloney, with Shelly Banjo, Jack Witzig and Phil Kuntz, (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP
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