How Elon Musk lost $34,000,000,000 in just one day following public fallout with Trump
Elon Musk, one of the richest people in the world, recently had a very public disagreement with former President Donald Trump — and it ended up costing him a massive amount of money.
On June 5, Musk lost about \$34 billion in a single day. This huge drop happened because Tesla’s stock fell sharply after the public saw him arguing with Trump. Although Musk still has billions to his name, this was one of the biggest single-day losses anyone has ever had, according to financial records.
Musk and Trump used to be on good terms, but things changed quickly when Musk criticized a large government spending bill that Trump supported. Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination” on social media, saying it was full of wasteful spending. He even publicly shamed the politicians who voted for it.
Trump didn’t take the criticism lightly and responded by saying he was “very disappointed” in Musk. That seemed to rattle some investors in Tesla, who started pulling their money out of the company. As a result, Tesla’s stock dropped by 14% in just one day.
This isn’t the first time Tesla’s stock has struggled. Since Trump returned to the political spotlight, Tesla’s value has already fallen by about a third. Investors appear concerned about how Musk’s political involvement is affecting his leadership at Tesla.
To make things worse, rumors started spreading that Tesla’s board was looking for someone to replace Musk as CEO. One of Tesla’s earliest backers, Ross Gerber, publicly said that Musk had damaged the company’s reputation and was no longer focused enough on running the business. He suggested that Musk should either fully return to lead Tesla or step aside so someone else could take over.
Despite the rumors, both Musk and Tesla’s board chair, Robyn Denholm, denied any plans for him to step down.
Now that Musk is no longer working with the Trump administration, some believe he may finally be able to give more attention to his companies, like Tesla and SpaceX, and try to recover from the damage done.
