Elon, Inc.

Monday night, Donald Trump sat down for an interview with Elon Musk on Musk’s social media platform, X. An unfiltered conversation between two of the most influential figures of the last decade? It was no surprise that over one million people listened concurrently in as they meandered across topics ranging from electric vehicles and immigration, to a play-by-play of the assassination attempt Trump survived in Pennsylvania last month.

So what’s the significance of this interview, which produced very little news and was marred from the start by technical issues? On the latest episode of Elon, Inc., host David gathers Max and Dana to try and untangle it.

But wait there’s more. In the final installment of our summer conversation series, Papadopoulos speaks with Bethany Allen, head of program for China investigations and analysis at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Allen unpacks Musk’s business ventures in China and what his involvement with the country means for Tesla and the electric vehicle industry at large.

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As the world reacts to US Vice President Kamala Harris’s own vice-presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, our attention stays focused on Monday’s stock market selloff (though much was recovered on Tuesday). One of the big topics of conversation was, does the sudden dip represent a popping artificial intelligence bubble? And what would such a correction do to Elon Musk? On this week’s episode of Elon, Inc., Bloomberg Businessweek’s Max Chafkin, Bloomberg technology editor Sarah Frier and reporter Kurt Wagner discuss. Plus later on: a conversation between Chafkin and the New Yorker’s Rachel Monroe and journalist Chris Hooks on what Musk’s relocation to Texas has meant for the state.

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Presidential political news—and memes—continue to electrify the American public. And it seems they’ve had an effect on Elon Musk as well, seeing how the far-right GOP megadonor has been posting madly on his embattled social media platform. Among media shared by Musk—now a full-throated supporter of Donald Trump—has been a fake video of US Vice President Kamala Harris with the parody label removed.

Bloomberg technology editor Sarah Frier and reporter Kurt Wagner join Elon, Inc., to talk about this. Later on the episode, Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull interviews New York Times reporter Mike Isaac about Musk’s troubled relationship with California.

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When President Joe Biden announced that he was dropping his campaign for re-election, the news reached most people via the President's post to X. Some are calling that a win for Musk's beleaguered platform, but Musk himself seemed to be preoccupied with propping up former President Trump's campaign on X, a platform Trump himself won't even use. David and Max are joined by tech editor Sarah Frier to dig into how it all played out on X.Plus, the first installment of our Summer Conversation Series: Max Chafkin speaks with Fred Lambert, editor-in-chief of Electrek, about how the Venn diagram of Elon Musk fans and Tesla fans has evolved in parallel with the Elon Musk's political shift.

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The fortunes of Elon Musk and Donald Trump have been converging for the better part of the past year. But over the past week, the union became official. On Friday, Bloomberg broke the news of a significant donation to a Trump Super-PAC. Then on Saturday, immediately after an assassination attempt on Trump’s life, Musk tweeted out his endorsement of the former president. 

David, Max, and Dana are joined Bloomberg Businessweek editor Brad Stone, who sat down with Trump in Florida for this month’s cover story, to discuss what Trump and Musk have in common, what may come out of this union, and how big of a black eye for Musk a Trump loss would mean. All this, plus the disappearing Robotaxi.

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Bloomberg reporters Josh Eidelson and Loren Grush recently went deep on a tangle of lawsuits orbiting SpaceX, all related to toxic workplace allegations including sexual harassment and retaliation. They join the Elon, Inc., panel to tell us what they found. Also, Dana and Max discuss a new feud developing between Musk and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman while delivering some thoughts on the fate of those who short Tesla stock.

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Tuesday was a big day in the world of Tesla, which reported its second-quarter sales numbers. After a disastrous start to 2024, and despite year-over-year sales being down, the numbers weren’t that bad.  David, Dana and Max talk it out with Bloomberg senior editor for autos Craig Trudell. Plus we have a lot of SpaceX and X news. 

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Why is Elon Musk so obsessed with birth rates? And what is he doing about it? Those questions are at the heart of today’s episode, as well as the Bloomberg Businessweek feature by Sophie Alexander and Dana Hull. They join David Papadopoulos to talk about their reporting (and their scoop on Musk’s twelfth known child). Plus, what’s happening at X? Falling revenues have led to a high-level shake-up, as Kurt Wagner comes aboard to discuss.

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Last week, we wondered whether Elon Musk would get his pay package approved in a shareholder vote—and we got our answer. According to Musk and Tesla, over 70% of shareholders voted to approve his record-setting deal. But what does this mean? To help answer that question, Elon, Inc. has convened its regular panelists, in the form of Max and Dana, as well as Delaware courts reporter Jef Feeley. And later on, Kurt Wagner comes on to talk about his scoop about X’s plans to become a payment service, and Max Read, of the Read Max newsletter, shares his thoughts on why X has decided to hide its “likes.”

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Max and Dana recently joined Ashlee Vance as guests on Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast for a special Elon Musk episode. The wide ranging discussion covered a plethora of subjects, like Starlink's influence on the amateur night sky photographer community, Elon's leadership style and whether all his efforts really is just a combined effort to take humans to Mars. Dana seems to think so.It was such a good time, we can't help but share it with you today. So click play, enjoy, and then go subscribe to Odd Lots.

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