Elon, Inc.

What a year 2024 has been for Elon Musk. From the ups-and-downs of Tesla stock, to his rapid ascent to the top of Republican party politics to various SpaceX wins and losses, it seems like a year that Musk won’t forget. And neither will we: for the year-end episode, we actually have a two-part special, featuring Max Chafkin as host, Dana Hull (Elon Musk reporter) and Sarah Frier (Big Tech editor) as panelists and a special guest, Ryan Broderick, host of his own podcast, Panic World, and Garbage Day newsletter founder.

In the first part, we go over the word (or words) that describe Musk’s year; discuss both the biggest and most underappreciated stories of the year; and figure out who was the most important sidekick among Elon’s ever evolving entourage.

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For the past day or so, Elon Musk has been singularly focused, on X, on one target: funding the US government. He has, basically, single-handedly, killed a bipartisan bill that would keep the federal government running through January 1, 2025. To unpack what is happening — and will what will happen — Max Chafkin sits down with Bloomberg News reporter Ted Mann. It’s a huge gamble, by Musk and Trump, on what could be a very problematic start to Trump’s new administration.

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The simmering feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman is boiling again. In the latest round, OpenAI, which is being sued by Musk, uncorked a long post last week that included emails purporting to show that Musk didn’t really care about the safety of artificial intelligence (as he has long said he does). According to OpenAI, Musk just wanted to control the company. Also on the docket for Elon, Inc. this week: a conversation with Bloomberg reporter Loren Grush, along with regulars Dana Hull and Max Chafkin, about what Donald Trump’s designated head of NASA, billionaire Jared Isaacman, means for Musk. (Probably only good things.)

Another story that is discussed is Hull’s deep dive into Musk’s funding of a preschool project. It’s part of a larger push from Musk to implement his own far-right agenda into education, and the money runs through at least two of his non-profit entities. There is a familiar cast of characters involved (like longtime money manager Jared Birchall) and some vague goals. 

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Elon Musk is frequently on the move, but in his new role as Donald Trump’s wealthiest enforcer, he seems to be everywhere at once. One minute he’s on Capitol Hill with Vivek Ramaswamy pushing his boss’s government-gutting agenda, the next he’s in Paris with the president-elect for some awkward mingling with the global elite. Then he’s back at Mar-a-Lago, huddling with Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban. Bloomberg political writer Josh Green joins Max Chafkin and Dana Hull to talk about these developments.

Also on the episode this week, a discussion about the recent astronomical SpaceX valuation, Max thinks he might have spotted a possible feud, and a quick peak into the show email inbox.

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This holiday season, it would seem that Elon Musk has much to be thankful for—he even spent Thanksgiving by Donald Trump’s side in Mar-a-Lago. But last night, a Delaware judge handed him a rare defeat, rejecting yet again his enormous Tesla pay package. To discuss this and other legal matters, the Elon, Inc. team has brought on Bloomberg legal reporter Jef Feeley as well as the regular crew: Sarah Frier, Max Chakin, and Dana Hull.

The gang also discuss Elon's shifting customer base. One consequence of Musk’s far-right political turn has been how consumers now have to weigh the political ramifications of buying products from his companies. This has been the case at Tesla for a while now (a market for anti-Elon bumper stickers has flourished) but there’s a huge debate about the meaning of using X post-election.

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There have been a lot of raised eyebrows over Elon Musk’s “DOGE” (not the cryptocurrency), short for Trump 2.0’s “Department of Government Efficiency.” It’s Donald Trump’s project for Musk: he’s assigned his wealthiest donor the task of cutting government spending by about $2 trillion (most of which is constitutionally up to Congress, but anyway...), in part by gutting or eliminating key regulatory agencies. The DOGE will be co-led by former presidential candidate, fellow tech entrepreneur and now full-on Trump acolyte Vivek Ramaswamy. Recent reporting has revealed a whole team of Trumpian billionaires, investors and tech personalities willing to join the feeding frenzy—a veritable Avengers team of MAGA fiscal expenditure.

On the latest episode of Elon, Inc., David Papadopoulos and Max Chafkin break down who’s who behind the scenes of the DOGE team, and try to figure out what, if anything, it can do or what Musk’s end goal is. 

The episode also includes a live recording in London from October with Papadopoulos, Chafkin and social media expert Devika Shanker-Grandpierre. The trio discuss the global consequences of Musk’s lax content moderation on X.

To top things off, David confronts Max with Musk’s latest ploy: a suggestion that the billionaire should buy MSNBC. It may sound far fetched but, as David points out, didn’t the purchase of Twitter also start out as a joke? 

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In this limited series, Odd Lots explains some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy through the medium of … chicken. Chicken occupies a unique position in the US diet, but issues facing the poultry industry illustrate wider points about the development of the US economy and the decisions being made about how it's structured and who benefits from it. So why has the chicken industry evolved in the way that it has? What’s been driving the price increases in eggs and meat? And what does it all say about things like inflation, the labor market and the nature of American capitalism?

Check out Beak Capitalism on Odd Lots wherever you get your podcasts.

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When Donald Trump claimed victory, early in the morning of Nov. 6, he did so not only for himself, his campaign staff and the voters who backed him–but also for the billionaire industrialist and media mogul who’d become his most unlikely supporter. “A star is born: Elon,” Trump said, his mouth lingering on the name. “He’s an amazing guy.” In this episode, we talk to journalists, academics and a historian about how to measure the scale and scope of Musk's win. Can anyone, or anything, hold someone as rich and now politically power to account? It might be up to the people.

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Does money speak? And if so, what is it saying about Elon Musk and Donald Trump? In this episode of Elon, Inc., the panel—host David Papadopoulos, Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull, social media reporter Kurt Wagner and Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Max Chafkin—consider how Musk has benefited from his incredibly close relationship with the president-elect, even as some cracks emerge between them. 

Also discussed: Bluesky, a new version of what Twitter was before Musk got a hold of it, has had a great few weeks, adding millions of users. It’s not clear how this will impact X, as its value—like all of the right-wing billionaire’s companies—is now tied to Trump. There might not be a good advertising business left for X, but it has other uses now, as the media arm of Musk’s political operation, and the Republican Party as a whole. 

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It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week since the US presidential election. First Friend Elon Musk has been very busy—from talking on the phone to world leaders to racking up billions of dollars in additional wealth as Tesla stock soars (thanks to widespread expectations of presidential favor). To hash all of this out, Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Max Chafkin leads a discussion with Bloomberg technology editor Sarah Frier, Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull and wealth reporter Tom Maloney. 

And we look at a new feud: Musk versus pop star Olivia Rodrigo. She had said that she asks men on first dates if they want to go to space—and if they say yes, “it’s just weird.” We’ll be looking for his response to this shot to the man-o-sphere. 

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