Elon Musk Leaves Trump Role: What's Next for Tesla and SpaceX?

Hey guys, so Elon Musk apparently just stepped away from his gig with the Trump team, which is kinda wild.

For investors, this is a big deal. Why? Well, they're really hoping he'll put his full attention back on his huge business stuff, like Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla's sales have been a bit rough lately, and SpaceX's recent rocket launch didn't go as planned either. That's gotta be concerning, right?

Musk left his White House role on Wednesday, and that might actually be a good sign for Tesla folks. The stock has been dropping this year. Some people think it's partly 'cause of the fuss about him supporting Donald Trump and some right-wing groups in Europe. He was also leading Trump's project to cut down government spending, which stirred up some arguments.

Now, he's back focusing on his businesses. There are challenges, sure, like those slow Tesla sales. But he's also got some major wins. SpaceX and Starlink are pretty much the top dogs in their areas, especially for commercial launches and getting satellite internet out there. A lot of countries have actually been looking at Starlink too, and it seems Musk's connections with Trump helped smooth things over with getting approvals.

But that relationship with Trump also got some people talking. Before he announced he was leaving Washington, Musk wasn't too happy about a new tax bill. And, you know, he had recently said he was gonna spend less on politics. He spent a ton of money last year on Trump's campaign and other Republican candidates.

Tesla shares didn't move much on Thursday, but they've lost about 25% of their value since the middle of December. The stock actually shot up at first, partly because of Musk's connection to Trump AND everyone was excited about their robotaxis supposedly getting quick approval. But then things went the other way as sales fell and people started protesting against Musk for supporting way-right politicians and for his part in firing some government workers.

Experts think Tesla needs to fix things on the inside to really get sales going again. People buying electric cars are checking out other brands more and more, especially in China where things are growing fast. Seth Goldstein, an analyst from Morningstar, said that Musk leaving won't really change much for Tesla. He thinks Tesla's sales dropping just show that their current cars aren't new enough for the market anymore and are facing tough competition in the U.S., China, and Europe.

Tesla's stock is still way more expensive than other big tech companies like Nvidia or Microsoft, and definitely more than regular car companies. But some analysts, like Dan Ives at Wedbush, believe Tesla's future is all about self-driving tech. Ives even said it could be worth like, a trillion dollars just for Tesla! That's kinda wild to think about.

Tesla hasn't said anything about this yet, btw. It's true though, Musk's businesses have done well thanks to his Trump connection. Apparently, his government team was even using his AI chatbot, Grok, to look at government data. Some people thought that might give him an unfair peek at private info about government contracts, giving him an edge over other AI companies.

The White House said Trump's cabinet will still work with Musk's team in different government spots, even though one of Musk's main guys, Steve Davis, stepped down from his leadership role. That's according to someone who knows what's going on.

Oh, and that SpaceX launch this week failed faster than they thought. It blew up over the ocean and didn't hit some key testing goals. This puts another pause on Musk's plans to make the rocket ready quickly. This rocket is supposed to be a big part of America's space program. SpaceX did get the okay for this flight just four days before though, after they looked into what happened with a problem that grounded the rocket for almost two months beforehand. Gwynne Shotwell has been leading the team at SpaceX for a long time, but after this latest launch, Musk said he plans to spend more time there.

The Starship rocket is still a long way from being ready to land people on the moon or Mars. Someone from Globalt Investments, which invests in Tesla, said that even though Musk isn't officially in the government anymore, he still has connections. So while he might have a little less pull, they don't think it will really change things when it comes to getting approvals or dealing with rules.

Musk has been pretty quiet about new laws in Congress that affect electric cars, but late on Wednesday, Tesla Energy actually spoke out against Republican plans to end tax credits for energy stuff. They said stopping those credits would hurt America's energy independence and make our power grid less reliable. The Republican plan might cut tax breaks for buying or leasing electric cars, get rid of money for making batteries, and reduce incentives for clean energy like solar.

Tesla's robotaxi launch next month is gonna be super important for Musk's plan to move away from making cheaper electric cars and focus more on self-driving cars and those Optimus robots.

Right after the news came out that he was leaving Washington, Musk said Tesla has been testing driverless Model Y cars in Austin, Texas. The plan is to get the first ones to customers in June. He said, 'Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.' So, that's happening soon!