Elon Musk’s fortune soars to $314 billion after Trump’s victory | Economy

At Tesla’s last shareholder meeting last June, Elon Musk was asked about his relationship with Donald Trump. “I’ve talked to him several times and he calls me for no reason. “I don’t know why, but it is,” he said. “A lot of his friends now have Teslas and they all love them, and he’s a big fan of the Cybertruck,” he said, guaranteeing they are “contributing factors” for him changing his mind about electric vehicles. At that time, Musk had not yet become a major donor and ally of the Republican campaign and, according to the market, the main beneficiary of his victory. Following Trump’s victory, Elon Musk’s fortune soared to $314 billion (about €293 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The main reason for this increase is that the market is not taking into account that the new Republican administration will loosen regulations affecting Musk’s many businesses, from self-driving cars to space rockets to brain implants.

Musk’s wealth increased by $85 billion during the election year, the largest increase of any billionaire. Almost all of this growth was concentrated in just two weeks, and two decisive factors influenced this. On October 23, the tycoon’s fortune was estimated at $237 billion. Tesla’s publication of better-than-expected results and the election victory of its ally led to the fact that its fortune increased by 77 billion in a very short time.

Not only did Tesla beat earnings expectations, but Musk later delivered a very optimistic message on a conference call with analysts. In it, he talked about what he would do if Trump won the election and gave him responsibilities in his administration. He openly acknowledged that he would benefit himself by creating a simpler path to federal approval for autonomous vehicles instead of the complex state regulations that exist now. “National approval is important. This is part of the effectiveness of government and I will try to help it move forward. And this will be for everyone, not just Tesla. (…) I think we should have a national approval process for autonomous driving,” he said.

Shares of the electric vehicle company soared on the stock market after Trump’s victory, with the company’s capitalization exceeding $1 trillion for the first time since 2022.

Trump instructed Musk to carry out “radical” reform of the administration. “We need a Department of Government Efficiency,” he said at one of his rallies, highlighting his English acronym DOGE, a reference to Dogecoin, a bitcoin-derived cryptocurrency that uses a dog as a pet and which he somehow sponsors . “Doge on a bronze plaque. “It will be incredible,” he added, before admitting that his plans involve mass layoffs of officials.

Trump’s victory would give him some power over regulators who he believes are holding back Tesla and SpaceX, his rocket and satellite company. SpaceX, of which Musk owns 42%, is not listed on the stock market and Bloomberg is using an estimate of $210 billion since its flotation last June to measure the tycoon’s wealth. The company, which has lucrative government contracts, has likely increased in value since Trump took office.

The calculation of Musk’s net worth also includes his stakes in Neuralink, a brain computer implant company that could also benefit from looser regulation, X, a network in which Trump has become active again, its artificial intelligence xAI, and others. companies.

With $314 billion, the world’s richest man has an $84 billion lead over Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, who is worth $230 billion. Third on the list is Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s major shareholder, with a net worth of $209 billion. Musk is close to his own record $330 billion fortune, which he reached three years ago when Tesla shares were trading at their highest level.

Compared to his wealth and the benefits the market estimates he will reap from a Trump presidency, the nearly $120 million he is known to have contributed to the Republican campaign is mere pocket change.

The tycoon became one of the unexpected heroes of the election campaign. In May, it became clear that Trump was counting on him on his team if he won the election. Later, at an event in New York where he presented some proposals for his economic program, the former president clarified that he would entrust him with “radical” reform of the administration.

The South African-born tycoon donated $75 million (€70 million) in the third quarter to the America PAC he founded to support Trump’s re-election campaign, although he later continued to donate at least until he was surrounded by 120 million people. He first attended a rally with Trump a month before the election in Butler, Pennsylvania, the same place where a shooter wounded the candidate in an assassination attempt. During this intervention, he spread hoaxes about immigration, freedom of expression and guns, which he also disseminated within his networks.

Musk then continued to campaign alone, particularly in Pennsylvania, holding rallies that mixed politics with trips to Mars amid the enthusiasm of his followers. He organized some supposed million-dollar lottery for registered voters who signed the controversial petition. The Justice Department warned him that they might be illegal, but he went ahead with it. A Philadelphia prosecutor filed a lawsuit to stop them, but Musk’s lawyers then admitted that they were not, in fact, random, and that the winners had been chosen. The judge rejected the request to remove them.

Musk was so active in seeking votes for Trump and spreading hoaxes that even President Joe Biden mentioned his supposed temporary status as an illegal immigrant when he was a student and went to work without a visa. The mogul continued to campaign with Trump, including a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, and accompanied the Republican to a party celebrating his election victory.

The latest evidence of his closeness to Trump and his potential influence is that the president-elect called him on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in their first conversation since winning the election.