Billionaire Elon Musk has recorded an unprecedented string of bad luck since Donald Trump became President of the United States for the second term. His assets have dropped by hundreds of billions of dollars, and the world's largest electric car company Tesla is in trouble.
Series of bad luck, assets evaporated 120 billion USD
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is still the richest person in the world with more than 342 billion USD but is seeing his fortune plummet, while the world's largest electric car company Tesla is facing many difficulties.
Elon Musk's fortune has dropped rapidly, losing about $120 billion compared to the peak of more than $460 billion recorded on December 17 according to Forbes' calculations and reaching $500 billion according to Bloomberg .
Tesla shares have fallen for seven consecutive weeks, roughly the same period as Trump entered the White House, as Elon Musk has become deeply involved in politics, implementing the demands made by US President Donald Trump during his second term, including streamlining the government apparatus.
From a peak of nearly $480 per share recorded in mid-December, Tesla shares fell to $420 when Mr. Trump took office on January 20, then plunged below $263 per share on March 7. Tesla's market capitalization has fallen more than $700 billion from its peak, to about $820 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal , Elon Musk's excessive involvement in politics is affecting electric car sales. Many people want to sell their Tesla cars because they don't want to be involved with his political views.
Some surveys show that consumer boycotts of the Tesla brand are huge. This is happening not only in the US but also in Europe.
Not only that, Tesla also faces competition in terms of technology. Many electric car companies have caught up, and Tesla is even threatened to be left behind by the giants from China.
On February 11, Tesla shares plunged 6.3% and marked the fifth consecutive decline, with a total decrease in 5 sessions of 17%, equivalent to a loss of capitalization of 200 billion after Chinese rival BYD announced a cooperation with DeepSeek to develop self-driving car technology.
DeepSeek is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that took the technology world by storm at the beginning of the new year with capabilities considered equal to the giant ChatGPT OpenAI but at an extremely low cost.
On March 6, Elon Musk's Starship spacecraft exploded in mid-air after taking off from the Texas launch pad, marking the second consecutive failure this year for the program to send humans to Mars led by the South African-American billionaire. The incident could slow down the development of Starship as it must wait for investigations and approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before continuing testing.
Recently, Mr. Trump's tough trade policies, including plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods from many countries and implement 20% tariffs on Chinese goods, have also negatively affected Tesla, which has a large factory in Shanghai and is heavily dependent on the Chinese market.
Elon Musk's drastic moves in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), such as USAID staff cuts and calls for mass layoffs, have caused great controversy and pressure, with a strong wave of opposition.
What is Elon Musk calculating?
Recently, not only is Elon Musk under pressure from competitors in the electric vehicle and AI fields, he has also been accused of neglecting the management of his businesses, including Tesla.
Tesla’s electric vehicle sales are set to stagnate from 2024 (the first decline after more than a decade of continuous growth) and Tesla is losing ground. However, Elon Musk has been largely silent about the company’s plans to restore sales, despite the billionaire’s constant tweets on social network X (formerly Twitter) about a variety of issues.
Musk focused on politics, AI, robotaxi, and other projects like SpaceX and Neuralink. The silence on traditional electric vehicles is not necessarily a sign of abandonment of Tesla, but may reflect a strategic shift in Musk's ambitions.
Elon Musk’s real ambition is no longer simply to develop electric vehicles but to build an integrated technology empire, where Tesla serves as a platform for larger initiatives such as autonomous vehicles, AI, and robotics. Musk has argued that robotaxis and Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology will naturally boost the company without the need for a traditional sales strategy.
Tesla will launch a driverless robotaxi service in Austin by June 2025. This shows that Musk sees electric vehicles as just a means to a larger goal: a fully automated transportation ecosystem, where Tesla not only sells cars but also makes money from autonomous transportation services.
Musk has also focused on projects outside of Tesla, such as SpaceX (humans on Mars), Neuralink (brain-computer interfaces), and xAI (general AI). These projects reflect his long-term ambition: to change the way humans live, work, and explore the universe, rather than focusing solely on electric vehicles.
In terms of prospects, SpaceX and Tesla (with robotaxi) have the most potential in the short term, while xAI and Neuralink are long-term plays. However, dependence on the Trump alliance and market pressure (especially in China and Europe) could pose a major risk to Musk’s strategy.
Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot project is also considered to have great potential, capable of "changing the world" and making Tesla the most valuable company in the world if produced on a large scale and applied in industry and life. Tesla aims to produce 10,000 Optimus humanoid robots in 2025.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/van-han-chua-tung-co-cua-elon-musk-tu-khi-ong-trump-len-lam-tong-thong-2378700.html
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