How strange It’s time to become Elon Musk.
This year began with the businessman-turned-political activist throwing what seemed, at least to the Nazis,… Sieg Heila.
Activists have often gathered outside the showrooms of his carmaker, Tesla, this spring to protest his incursions into the U.S. federal government and his cozy relationship with President Trump. They argued that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting operation named after an Internet meme from more than a decade ago, was not very restricted to foreign aid. They cheered when Tesla failed to meet Wall Street’s financial expectations.
Back in May, Musk blew up his relationship with the most powerful man on Earth with several snarky X posts; the most powerful man on Earth called him “Train Wreck.” Tesla kept leaking money. DOGE fell victim to internal conflicts in Washington; it is now reportedly decentralized and a shadow of Musk’s personal fiefdom it once was.
And yet: it looks like Elon Musk will emerge from 2025, OK? Or, to put it briefly: Elon Musk may not be the king of the world, but Elon Musk is still very, very powerful.
Money isn’t everything, but when it comes to the richest man in the known universe, it’s worth looking at the numbers. Tesla has gone a little crazy this year (more on that in a moment), and historically, much of Musk’s wealth has come from the world’s most valuable automaker. This should be bad news for Musk. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Tesla CEO’s other private companies – SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink – are keeping his portfolio diversified, shielding the aspiring trillionaire from some of the public market whips.
Musk is worth approximately $462 billion according to Bloombergand his shares in Tesla are valuable Estimates put it at $140 billion financial reporting— less than half of his fortune. Overall, Musk’s fortune has increased by $29 billion since last year.
So how did a guy who started the year as the president’s “first buddy” and ended it as a political pariah fare? It was mostly a tale of two companies: Tesla hitting the white water while SpaceX launched satellites into orbit and signed government contracts. Meanwhile, Musk was rooting for X, a website that he clearly overpaid for in 2022. But the investment was successful; the platform has set the pace for political and social commentary from the global right for much of 2025.
By all accounts, Tesla had a not-so-successful year. The US electric vehicle market collapsed when the Trump government cut tax subsidies and support for factories producing batteries and vehicles. He imposed, then reversed, and reimposed global tariffs that strained the entire U.S. auto industry. Musk’s company was not immune to the effects.