Elon Musk’s sprawling business empire has granted the billionaire a degree of power and global influence that transcends the industries he’s reshaped. He is the...
Elon Musk has been making news at a furious pace as he seeks to dismantle wide swaths of the federal government at Donald Trump’s behest. His behavior has certainly been enough to fill the pages of Judd Legum’s new publication, Musk Watch. The newsletter, an offshoot of Legum’s Popular Information Substack, launched on Inauguration Day. Since then, he’s used his background in law, journalism and digging through public records to keep track of the South Africa native and what he and his “Department of Government Efficiency” have been doing. How does one keep track of someone like Musk? In this special episode of Elon, Inc., Bloomberg technology editor Sarah Frier sits down with Legum to talk about his work, the potential legal consequences for Musk and his minions and an alternate universe where Musk behaves in a less controversial fashion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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27:17
Elon’s Brand Dilemma
In some ways, Elon Musk had a quiet week—if making news on a daily instead of hourly basis counts as quiet. This week on Elon, Inc., the panel— Max Chafkin, Dana Hull and Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Amanda Mull—discusses Mull’s latest story about the wrong turns Musk has taken with the Tesla brand. And while Tesla dealerships and Supercharger stations are increasingly the focus of anti-Musk ire, the panel ponders the future of SpaceX and Starlink, especially as the latter is seeing growth among its competitors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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35:19
The Week Everything Went Wrong
He may be the world’s richest person and a personal pal of Donald Trump, but even Elon Musk can have a bad week. Not only has Tesla stock continued to crater as consumers worldwide turn their back on the South Africa-born multibillionaire (some violently) but his right-wing social network X was hit by sporadic outages he blamed on hackers. Even one of his SpaceX rockets blew up, raining debris down on the Earth and endangering passenger airliners. A big part of Musk’s waning popularity is of course tied to his starring role in gutting the US government on behalf of Trump—and even there he’s not as loved as he once was. On this episode to discuss all of this are Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Max Chafkin and Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull. Later, Bloomberg stocks reporter Esha Day talks about how the markets have been treating Musk of late. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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34:05
How Tesla Became Elon’s Collateral Damage
While Elon Musk is busy in Washington, his publicly traded company has been suffering. Having skyrocketed in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s election, Tesla is now in free fall and increasingly a target of protesters. Every weekend, more people have shown up at Tesla dealerships across the US with signs and chants, demonstrating against Musk’s effort to gut federal regulators and agencies while firing tens of thousands or workers with Trump’s blessing. Overseas, it might be even worse for the carmaker: Tesla sales have collapsed in Europe. Maybe betting on Trump boosting Musk’s companies wasn’t the smartest move for investors after all? To debate that and more, David Papadopoulos is joined by Bloomberg editor Craig Trudell as well as Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull and Bloomberg Businessweek Senior Reporter Max Chafkin. Also, after a lull, the feuds are back, and this time they’re bigger than ever.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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32:50
DOGE for Dummies
Personnel Management (OPM) sent out an email seemingly to all federal employees instructing them to send back a list of five things they accomplished the previous week. Over on X, Musk posted that failure to do so would be tantamount to resigning. Confusion reigned as departments scrambled to advise employees on whether to follow the order from Donald Trump’s wealthiest assistant. This week, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Max Chafkin chats with Bloomberg social media reporter Kurt Wagner about this email and more. Then we hear a segment of the live show last week at On Air Fest, where host David Papadopoulos was joined by Chafkin, Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull and Wired’s Makena Kelly, who has been covering politics and Musk’s new government career for some time now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Elon Musk’s sprawling business empire has granted the billionaire a degree of power and global influence that transcends the industries he’s reshaped. He is the leader of no fewer than six hugely influential companies, spanning electric vehicles to wartime communications, and their innovations could shape the fates of nations.
Musk is polarizing, confounding and inescapable. And he is the biggest business story of our time.
Each week, listen in as host David Papadopoulos convenes a panel of Bloomberg Businessweek journalists who are tracking Musk’s companies and the surprising ways they intersect. They break down the business mogul's latest moves and analyze what they could mean for us all.
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