"A Typhoid Mary of Celebrity Endorsers" | Elon, Inc.

Recently, a Democratic pollster surveyed the value of celebrity endorsement on the presidential race—looking at a sample of younger voters. The upshot was that Zendaya was the most influential celebrity—but Elon's name came up, too. He was one of the celebrities whose endorsement sends people running the other way. Call him an anti-influencer.

Today on Elon, Inc., our panel of regulars—Max Chafkin, Dana Hull and host David Papadopoulos—are joined by Bloomberg political writer Joshua Green to talk about the state of Musk’s political life, as well as a grab bag of other news. That includes:

xAI just announced a $6 billion funding round. It reflects the continued confidence tech powerhouses like Sequoia Capital—old comrades of Musk—seem to still have in him. While Tesla stock has plunged and Musk’s purchase of Twitter remains star-crossed, it seems he hasn’t lost the confidence of some Silicon Valley funders.

The Tesla shareholder vote is coming up on June 13 and the campaign to get Musk’s pay package re-approved is going strong. But it’s not clear—given how much retail shareholders control the stock—which way things will go.

Recently, a Democratic pollster surveyed the value of celebrity endorsement on the presidential race—looking at a sample of younger voters. The upshot was that Zendaya was the most influential celebrity—but Musk’s name came up, too. He was one of the celebrities whose endorsement sends people running the other way. Call him an anti-influencer.

Even if young people aren’t being influenced by his positions (many of which are far-right if you go by his musings on X), Musk has been very politically vocal this year. As the New York Times recently reported, he has been more anti-Joe Biden than ever in 2024. This doesn’t mean that he will be pulling out his checkbook, though. Musk has no track record of donating and is, per Green, viewed in Washington as something of a political cheapskate.

Other billionaires including Musk friend David Sacks have been openly supporting Donald Trump, though. Last week, Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman came out for the twice-impeached Republican. Whether Musk decides to take a more active (and financial) role will be a big question as the campaign goes on.

Feud watch returns! A Facebook AI leader is Musk’s latest target. Meanwhile, Musk has a group of lawyers coming after him.

Elon Musk’s sprawling business empire has granted the billionaire a degree of power and global influence that transcends the industries he’s reshaped. He is the leader of no fewer than six hugely influential companies, spanning electric vehicles to wartime communications, and their innovations could shape the fates of nations.

Musk is polarizing, confounding and inescapable. And he is the biggest business story of our time.

Each week, listen in as host David Papadopoulos convenes a panel of Bloomberg Businessweek journalists who are tracking Musk’s companies and the surprising ways they intersect. They break down the business mogul's latest moves and analyze what they could mean for us all.

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