Elon Musk Shifts Focus After Leaving Trump Administration
So, Elon Musk is stepping away from his gig with the Trump administration. Maybe this means he'll really focus on his huge company empire? Like, he's got Tesla and SpaceX and all that. Right now, Tesla isn't selling as many cars, and SpaceX's latest rocket launch didn't go as well as hoped. Kind of a lot going on.
He said goodbye to his White House role on Wednesday. This might make Tesla investors feel a little better, because the company's stock has gone down this year. Some people think it's because he supported Donald Trump and some right-wing groups in Europe. Elon was also in charge of this thing called the Department of Government Efficiency for Trump, which was supposed to cut down on government spending. That caused some talk, you know?
Now he's back to his businesses, and there are some tough spots, but also some good things. Tesla's sales dropping is making investors a bit antsy. But SpaceX and Starlink are like, the top dogs in their areas. They're often the first choice for sending stuff into space or getting satellite internet. Other countries are even using Starlink more, partly because Elon got along well with Trump, which helped with getting approvals. That connection with Trump did get some attention, though. Just before he left Washington, Elon wasn't happy about a new tax bill coming through Congress. Plus, he recently promised to spend less money on politics after he spent a ton, almost $300 million, on Trump's campaign and other Republican candidates last year. Wow.
Tesla stock didn't change much on Thursday afternoon. But it's lost about 25% of its value since the middle of December. The stock went way up at first because of Elon's relationship with Trump. People thought they'd get quick approval for Tesla's robotaxis, which everyone is waiting for. But then things changed when sales went down. Also, there were protests because Elon supported some far-right politicians and because of his role in letting go of some government workers. Experts say Tesla needs to fix bigger things with how it runs to get sales back up. People buying electric cars are looking at other companies more, especially in China, which is a big market. Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar, said that Elon leaving that government efficiency group might make investors feel better, but he doesn't think it changes much for Tesla. He said Tesla's sales dropping shows that its current cars have hit a peak in the market and they're facing tough competition in the US, China, and Europe.
Honestly, Tesla stock is still way more expensive than other big tech companies like Nvidia or Microsoft, and definitely more than regular car companies. Some optimistic analysts, like Dan Ives at Wedbush say that Tesla's future value is really about self-driving technology. Ives even said on Thursday that this self-driving stuff alone could be worth about '$1 trillion' for Tesla. Tesla didn't say anything right away when asked.
Elon's companies have actually done pretty well because of his connection with Trump. Reuters reported last week that Elon's team in that government efficiency group was using his AI chatbot, Grok, in the US government to check out data. Experts told Reuters that this could give Elon access to important government info about contracts that isn't public. This might give him an edge over other companies that offer AI services. The White House said on Thursday that Trump's cabinet will keep working with people from that government efficiency group in different government offices, even though at least one person from Elon's team is leaving. Steve Davis, who is close to Elon and helped run the day-to-day stuff for that group, has stepped down from being a leader there, according to someone who knows what's going on.
The SpaceX launch this week didn't go as planned. It exploded over the Indian Ocean faster than they thought it would. It didn't even meet some of the main testing goals. This puts another delay on Elon's plans to develop this rocket quickly, even though it's supposed to be a big part of the US space program. The government okayed SpaceX's license for this Starship flight attempt just four days before, after they looked into an issue that had kept Starship on the ground for almost two months. SpaceX has always had its own leadership team, with Gwynne Shotwell in charge. But after this latest launch, Elon said he plans to spend more time on the company. The Starship rocket still has a long way to go before it can land people on the moon or Mars.
Thomas Martin, who manages money for a Tesla investor called Globalt Investments, said that even though Elon isn't officially part of the government anymore, he probably still has connections. So, Martin thinks his influence in government might be a little less, but he doesn't think it will really change anything when it comes to getting things approved. Elon hasn't said much for months about a law in Congress that is about electric cars. But late on Wednesday, Tesla Energy said that Republican plans to end tax credits for energy were a bad idea. Tesla Energy wrote on their X account that ending these tax credits suddenly would make America less energy independent and hurt how reliable our power grid is. The Republican tax plan might cut tax breaks for buying or leasing electric cars, slowly get rid of credits for making batteries, and cut back on clean energy help for solar.
Tesla's robotaxi launch next month is a really big deal for Elon's plan. He wants to focus more on self-driving cars and Tesla's Optimus robots instead of making an affordable electric car. Right after the news that he was leaving Washington, Elon said Tesla has been testing driverless Model Y cars in Austin, Texas. He said they plan to deliver the first ones in June. He said, Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.
