The final damage at day's end: US34-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.
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.
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.
