Elon Musk

As Wall Street Journal reporter Meghan Bobrowsky highlights, the valuations used for Elon Musk’s all-stock combo platter of X companies were negotiated in an... interesting way.

Is Tesla really cooked? Watch as The Verge transportation editor, Andrew Hawkins, walks us through how Elon Musk’s unprecedented takeover of the federal government has transformed public opinion of his car company into something increasingly toxic instead of futuristic, with some owners suddenly selling their cars even at a loss.

The original plan, according to reports from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, was to discuss plans for a potential war with China, among other topics, raising questions about Musk’s ever-expanding role in the executive branch and potential conflicts with his business interests. President Donald Trump denied the reports, saying “China will not even be mentioned or discussed,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it would cover “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”

Tesla news lately includes a leader with a second or maybe seventh job in politics, protests, vandalism, a White House lawn advertisement, record high trade-in numbers, and a Cybertruck recall to fix glued-on trim pieces that can’t stay attached.

One of Tesla’s usually favorable Wall Street analysts, Dan Ives from Wedbush, published a note pleading with CEO Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE. “Tesla and Musk are facing a defining chapter in their future and how Musk handles this next few months will be pivotal to the long term growth trajectory of Tesla in our view,” Ives wrote. Another thing Ives says Musk needs to do is prepare lower-cost vehicles for 2025.

Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s estranged daughter, doesn’t mince words in a new Teen Vogue profile when asked about her biological father. Musk has pushed anti-trans talking points, like saying his transgender child was “killed by the woke mind virus.”

Elon Musk has publicly railed against Delaware’s corporate law as its judges ruled against his wishes, moving the incorporation of Tesla and other companies out of state. Now, CNBC says a January WSJ report that Meta was considering moving its incorporation spurred immediate action from the governor on a new bill, SB 21, that might make its laws friendlier to folks like Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Investors have reportedly valued the social media giant at the same amount Elon Musk purchased it for in 2022, a sharp jump after it was deemed worth less than $10 billion in September 2024.

The Trump administration acknowledged in recent court filings that it had terminated nearly 25,000 workers across several agencies during its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-fueled cuts. Those workers are now being reinstated under a judge’s instructions. But many of those workers are still on administrative leave, and officials warn that if an appeals court reverses the temporary restraining order, “employees could be subjected to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.”

Tim Sweeney recently endorsed Elon Musk’s latest attempt to paint the nationwide protests as a leftist conspiracy — this time, one backed by billionaire progressive mega donors George Soros and Reid Hoffman. “Disgusting,” he wrote in response to Musk’s X post connecting the dots, then defended himself by citing his experience in the Apple lawsuit. (Not sure whether these are similar circumstances?)

Donald Trump livestreamed a Tesla showcase in the White House driveway on Tuesday, apparently reading the notes of a Tesla sales pitch as he performed choosing one of its EVs to purchase from five delivered for the event.

Musk tweeted that in 2022, adding that it could “...cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.” Today Electrek highlights this incident that occurred Monday morning in Ventura, CA.

The platform has been going down intermittently since around 5:40AM ET on Monday, with no official ETA for when the outages will be resolved, and no details provided about what’s causing the issues. Musk made similar claims about cyberattacks impacting X’s services last year when Spaces crashed out during a scheduled conversation with Donald Trump, though X staffers at the time told The Verge that an attack hadn’t occurred.

I’ve been at the courthouse this morning as Adam Martinez, chief operating officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is grilled about whether the agency is unlawfully trimming staff and ordering people to stop work. Martinez admitted staff members have been confused about what they’re allowed to work on, but he insists it’s improving. So far, Judge Amy Berman Jackson seems skeptical — we’ll be headed back after lunch for more.

Wired reports that following a 150-person pilot, General Services Administration employees are using the chatbot, which Elon Musk’s DOGE hopes to expand to the entire agency, for “general purposes.”

Six people were arrested Saturday after “several hundred protestors” blocked entrances to a Manhattan Tesla showroom, The New York Times reports. “Tesla Takedown” protests aim to hurt Elon Musk by targeting Tesla, which has seen sales dropping globally since Musk started directing deep cuts in the federal government.