Elon Musk still holds claim to being the world’s richest man, but his most successful company is facing challenges as the businessman devotes his attention to President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
During an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on Monday, Musk downplayed concerns about literal and figurative shots being taken at Tesla, his electric vehicle company worth over $700 billion.
“Always look on the bright side of life,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s optimistic outlook comes despite data showing his net worth has tanked by $148 billion since January, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Tesla’s stock plunged 15% on Monday, marking the steepest drop for the company, which is the primary source of Musk’s income, since September, and signaling a $22.8 billion personal loss for the businessman, per Forbes.
“It will be fine long-term,” Musk wrote in response to the drop in his stock.
Some losses were recouped the following day, but the Monday news marked the start of a bad week for Musk, whose Tesla brand has taken a hit as anti-DOGE activists across the country target and, in some cases, violently damage his electric car dealerships and charging stations across the country. The activism has occurred as groups such as Indivisible, a partisan professional group with links to left-wing billionaire George Soros, have organized anti-Tesla campaigns.
A fire erupted at a Seattle parking lot on Sunday, damaging four Tesla Cybertrucks. Officials told the Washington Examiner the incident is under a joint investigation by the Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Three Cybertrucks were vandalized at a dealership in Dedham, Massachusetts, early Tuesday morning, police said, bringing the number of acts of vandalism to Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations to at least 10 in recent weeks, per NBC News.
“Clearly the Musk DOGE distractions/brand issues have taken on a life of their own and that has created a black cloud over Tesla’s stock,” Daniel Ives, a leading financial security analyst for Wedbush, said on Monday.
His words come as Tesla’s sales have dropped significantly in Europe this year — down 71% in Germany, 45% in Norway, and 44% in France and Spain, according to the Economic Times.
Ives later expressed confidence Musk has an opening with Tesla to corner the electric vehicles market, “but this Musk/DOGE political firestorm needs to be contained for the Tesla brand.”
President Donald Trump, too, has expressed concern that Democratic-fueled opposition to DOGE is hurting Musk’s brand.
“…The Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s “baby,” in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” the president said in a post to Truth Social. “Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???”
When Musk was pressed Monday on how he’s finding time to run his businesses while heading DOGE, the Tesla owner signaled he hasn’t.
“You’re giving up your other stuff; how are you running your other businesses?” Kudlow asked.
“With great difficulty,” Musk responded. “But there’s no turning back. I’m just trying to make government more efficient — eliminate waste and fraud — and so far, we’re making good progress actually. So our savings at this point exceed $4 billion a day.”
MUSK ISSUES WARNING AFTER ANTI-DOGE ERUPTIONS AT GOP TOWN HALLS REVEALED TO BE BACKED BY SOROS
Despite facing opposition, Musk expressed confidence Monday that he would continue using the government-slashing initiative to bring the “rule of the people” back to Washington, D.C.
“The president is the elected representative of the people. And if the president cannot get things implemented as a reflection of the will of the people, then what we have is not a democracy. We have a bureaucracy. We have rule of the bureau, not rule of the people. And that’s what we’re trying to defeat here [with DOGE] is the bureaucracy and have rule of the people,” he said.
