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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.
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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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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1Last 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.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On Thursday, Tesla—and Elon Musk—will face a vote of great emotional (if not legal) import: will shareholders approve, among other things, a measure to restore his $56 billion pay package? The one a Delaware judge threw out earlier this year? To get into what the vote means, we have Dana, Max and reporter Esha Day, who stuck around to tell us what’s happening with Tesla’s share price. It had flatlined earlier this year—but now it’s a bit more “boring.”
Plus, a multifaceted feud watch! After Apple unveiled artificial intelligence integrations Monday, Musk took to X to rip the announcement, saying that if OpenAI were to go into Apple’s operating system, he would not let his employees bring iPhones to work. We shall see if he makes good on this!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Foundering: The OpenAI Story is a narrative podcast that examines the rise of Sam Altman, from the time he was a 19-year-old startup founder, then the head of Y Combinator, and now the billionaire king of this AI boom.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s felony conviction for fraud, his followers scrambled to be first to reaffirm their fealty to the twice-impeached Republican. But for some reason, Trump’s new status as a convict also was accompanied by a resurgence of stories about another right-wing figure—Elon Musk—and their warming relationship.
Bloomberg has reported on how Musk is advising the presumptive GOP presidential candidate on all things crypto (maybe Dogecoin?), and the Wall Street Journal has related details about their time together in Florida—as well as the Tesla chief executive’s potential role in a second Trump administration. Bloomberg’s national politics correspondent Nancy Cook joins Max Chafkin and Kurt Wagner to talk about all of this. Also, the panel looked at some recent legal issues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Elon Musk has an interesting entourage (to say the least) and a penchant for bringing executives from one of his companies to another—often at the same time. In this special bonus episode of Elon, Inc., accompanying this Bloomberg feature, we turn to our panel of Max Chafkin, Dana Hull and Kurt Wagner, as well as special guest Katie Notopoulos, who covers tech culture for Business Insider. Together, they grapple with Musk’s cast of adjutants and why it’s important to know who they are.
Then we play a game we’re calling, “Elon High.” If we were going to give high school superlatives to these people (think most likely to succeed, class clown, biggest flirt), what would they be? Stick around for the categories invented by the panelists themselves. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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.
Also: Feud Watch returns!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last week, Bloomberg Businessweek published an exclusive look at Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get Elon Musk’s Neuralink technology implanted in his head. Our own Ashlee Vance spent time with Arbaugh, who lives with his parents and (as you’ll hear) some vocal farm animals. Vance joins us to talk about what he learned from the first patient in Neuralink’s inaugural clinical trial. He is joined by Bloomberg’s Sarah McBride to give a full picture on what it all means. Plus, we talk to markets reporter Kiel Porter and space reporter Loren Grush about all of the action around SpaceX stock—which is kind of interesting since it’s still a private company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We’re taking The Big Take to Asia. Each week, Bloomberg’s Oanh Ha tells a story from the home of the world's most dynamic economies - and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive the ever-shifting region.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last week, Elon, Inc. held a live taping at Bloomberg’s Tech Summit. Like many of the conversations that day, it focused on artificial intelligence. Host David Papadopoulos was joined by Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Max Chafkin, Bloomberg Musk reporter Dana Hull and a special guest, Bloomberg Businessweek editor Brad Stone. Together, we broke down how Elon Musk has (and hasn’t) innovated in this crucial industry.
Also, the crew tested Brad on whether he could differentiate between Grok and other chatbots in a game called “School of Grok.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last week, the news broke that Tesla had terminated most of its supercharging team (along with summer interns) as part of a broader mass dismissal. Even with all the frantic efforts to bolster profits, this came as a surprise. Perhaps less of a surprise? White supremacist Nick Fuentes being allowed back on Musk’s X, where he promptly held a Sunday night Spaces broadcast with, as of Tuesday afternoon, 2.1 million viewers. The biggest surprise this week in Elon-world though had to be his new role as social media etiquette adviser, as he attempted to school J.K. Rowling on the best ways to post (remember the positive!).
David, Dana and Max are joined by Bloomberg tech reporter Kurt Wagner to unpack all of this, and then some.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Before last week’s Tesla earnings, Elon Musk was scheduled to go to India—but didn’t. This weekend, though, news broke that he had in fact gone to China, to try to negotiate regulatory acceptance for his FSD (full self-driving) system. (It’s not actually full self-driving.) The Elon, Inc. panel—reporters Dana Hull and Max Chafkin—ponder that trip, and then delve into the second anniversary of Elon’s joke-y offer to buy Twitter, now X. Plus: A long simmering feud begins to boil over.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week David, Dana and Max are joined by Bloomberg Technology co-host Ed Ludlow to take a deep dive into all things Tesla, in advance of today’s fateful earnings report. Things are looking increasingly bleak for the company and we'll soon know if the numbers match the mood set by last week's layoffs. Also discussed: BINGO! And then, is Elon Musk feuding with Tucker Carlson? Max seems to think so, Dana is not so sure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We here at Elon, Inc wanted to introduce you to Matt Levine's Money Stuff: The Podcast - especially since he spoke about Elon in the latest episode. Please enjoy this excerpt, and subscribe to their feed if you like what you hear!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For the past week, Tesla has been in the news—badly. Tesla announced the largest company-wide terminations in its history—laying off 10% of its global workforce, or thousands of people. At the same time, two top executives are leaving. And that’s just the latest. So what gives? We explain. Plus, David, Dana and Max are joined by national security reporter Dan Flatley to talk about Musk’s upcoming trip to India.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On Friday, Elon promised an August 8 unveiling of a new robotaxi and replied to a post on X suggesting that Tesla was “shifting more resources” to the category.
Meanwhile, Musk’s in a standoff with Brazil’s Supreme Court over what he sees as the country’s heavy-handed regulation of misinformation. The battle could force X out of one of its key markets.
We discuss his legal challenges in Brazil with Sasha Issenberg, author of The Lie Detectives, and Bloomberg social media reporter Kurt Wagner (author of Battle for the Bird). And then chat through the implications of Musk’s turn to a technology that remains unproven with Elon, Inc. regulars Max Chafkin and Dana Hull.
Finally, a brand new segment: Enchantment of the Week, where we analyze the a potential alliance between Elon and investor Nelson Peltz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you think you’ve been seeing more X-rated content on X lately, you’re not alone. Elon's social media platform has long been permissive about suggestive material, but as Musk cut his content moderation teams, there seems to be more of the stuff floating around—and in more prominent places. This week, John Herrman of New York magazine, who recently published a story about a strange, particularly viral type of post, joins the Elon, Inc. panel to talk about X and porn. But first, Tesla sales numbers. They are not good. Not good at all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In a collaboration with the Bloomberg’s Big Take podcast, we present a story on SpaceX's Starlink satellite program. It touts itself as a source of reliable internet in hard-to-reach places. But there are some countries where Starlink’s services aren’t licensed, or where the company can’t do business because of US sanctions. And a Bloomberg investigation has found that Starlink kits are appearing in many of those markets anyway – with geopolitical consequences.Before we unpack that reporting, David, Max and Dana discuss new rules for selling Teslas, a tossed lawsuit and a report alleging that X has been profiting from selling data to governments and police departments, via a third-party data broker, even as it fights a lawsuit related to government surveillance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Can this show not see anything positive with any of the companies that Elon started? This episode feels like it's sponsored by Tells opponents... I hope future episodes will be more objective and open-minded.