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Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, lost $34 billion in net worth on Thursday after his company’s stock plummeted in response to the online fight he got in with President Donald Trump.
Over the last week, some Tesla stock investors had begun pulling their investments as Musk insulted Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and made a swift exit from his “special government employee” position.
But, investors acted much more quickly while witnessing the two men engage in a back-and-forth on their respective social media platforms.
Trump claimed he asked “crazy” Musk to leave his administration. Musk took credit for Trump’s election win. Trump threatened to pull Musk’s government contracts. Musk accused Trump of being named in the “Epstein files.”
Down the stock went, ending the day at a 14 percent loss – equating to a $34 billion valuation for Musk.
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While many claim to have anticipated the online feud, it’s a long way away from Musk jumping for joy onstage at Trump’s rallies or the duo’s Oval Office press conferences.
The cracks started to appear in their relationship after the tech mogul refused to stand by and praise Trump’s spending bill, which he has characterized as disastrous for the government.
Musk’s Thursday loss is part of the 33 percent decline Tesla’s stock has seen since Inauguration Day. Although the stock had significant gains after the election, much of that has been wiped out by growing criticisms of Musk’s role in the government, DOGE, and now his exit.
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Musk is still the world’s richest man, but a $34 billion drop in net worth is still notable given it’s the second-largest loss of the 500 wealthiest people on the planet recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“The only bigger one: his own wipeout in November 2021,” Bloomberg reported.
But the tech entrepreneur still has plenty of other endeavors to drive his wealth, including SpaceX, one of the world’s most valuable private startups, according to Bloomberg, Neuralink and xAI.
As the dust settles from the powerful individuals’ fight, it’s still unclear what path forward Musk and his subsidiaries will take now that Trump has bashed Tesla’s climate-conscious mission and threatened to revoke Musk’s critical government contracts.
