Elon Musk is taking over Washington – but he needs to watch his back at Tesla – msn/Telegraph

“No businessman has ever wielded as much political power as Elon Musk and he hasn’t had to get elected, or even be approved by Congress. But while Musk’s Doge team rips through the Washington swamp, uncovering waste and corruption, he should perhaps be paying attention to business closer to home. Tesla is in trouble. Sales have crashed 50pc in Europe compared to last January. In China, its largest market, sales fell 11.5pc in January. The share price has been dragged down 22pc from its post-election peak in December.

“This matters a great deal, because Tesla’s stock price is the key to Musk’s business empire and his personal life. It unlocks capital for all the other businesses, including his rocket company SpaceX, and quixotic adventures such as buying Twitter, now X.com. TSLA is also the basis of his personal income. He’s wrangling over the largest pay award in history, some $56bn (£45bn), which ballooned to almost $100bn after the presidential election given the share price surge. Courts have twice stuck down the move, arguing that it was not independently negotiated.”

Now that Musk is spending much of his time as a special federal government employee, owners of shares in his companies (including us) might question whether his enormous compensation package is an efficient and equitable use of corporate resources?

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Elon Musk’s gutting of US agencies is illegal, experts say. How do you muzzle Doge? -msn/Guardian

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