Musk's politicking and controversies have a hard edge. More than 110 billion of his fortune is "gone", Tesla is suffering

Controversial and rich

In the eyes of many, Elon Musk has long since ceased to be the progressive sci-fi visionary he once was. His reputation has been radically altered by his close collaboration with current US President Donald Trump, as well as by several controversial statements and a now notorious gesture that was strikingly reminiscent of the Nazi salute.

However, it is not just a question of reputation. Musk's performance has also had an impact on the economic aspect of his life. Several of his companies - notably X, Tesla and SpaceX - have suffered the most damage.

Musk's behaviour was on the edge of controversy even before he became more politically involved. A more fundamental breakthrough came after he bought out microblogging giant Twitter and renamed it X.

The social network has since declined in value, but also in credibility, as Musk champions "absolute freedom of speech" and has allowed misinformation, hoaxes and even graphic content to be displayed on X.

However, if we want to refer to economic indicators, things started to go "downhill" with Musk after he helped Trump win the US presidential election. He put USD 250 million into his campaign and even launched a controversial lottery that promised voters a possible win if they cast their vote for Trump.

Eventually, Musk joined the Trump administration in 2024 as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). At the time, he apparently had no idea that his ties to the US president would cost him billions.

Since the beginning of the year, Musk is more than $110 billion poorer, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Tesla is experiencing a historic decline in value, and his image as a visionary entrepreneur is being shaken to its foundations.

Musk's brand under fire

At first, things looked promising. After Trump's election triumph in December 2024, Tesla's value shot to a record $1.5 trillion. Indeed, many investors saw Musk as the man to ensure regulations for autonomous vehicles were relaxed and to secure further tax considerations for electric cars.

However, shortly after the inauguration, the first signs began to emerge that this would not be the case.

It did not take long before the first protests against Musk's political engagement began. Tesla car showrooms became the target of vandalism and even arson.

And the markets reacted. Tesla shares have lost almost 50% of their value in the last three months and sales in key markets have fallen alarmingly. In Germany, for example, sales of Musk's cars plunged 76% in January. In France and Italy, it was down 45% and 55% respectively.

Tesla is losing its breath in the EV market

Although EVs are growing in popularity, Tesla is unable to stay competitive. The Model S and Model X have been on the market for more than a decade and, apart from minor modifications, have not received any revolutionary innovations.

Major competitors like BYD, Kia, and Hyundai are bringing modern, more affordable models, while Tesla offers nothing below the $40,000 mark.

Musk previously bet on the controversial Cybertruck, but its odd futuristic shapes and lack of safety features have unfortunately taken a toll on sales. It was the safety risks that caused the Cybertruck to be pulled from the markets a total of seven times. According to figures from October last year, only around 30,000 units were sold.

Moreover, Musk has been promising fully autonomous cars for years, but has yet to deliver. Yet he has refocused Tesla's strategy on robotaxis, claiming that driverless cars will replace conventional transport. Meanwhile, there are already rival firms like Waymo that have fleets of driverless taxis. Tesla is lagging behind in this regard.

It is Musk's over-optimism and promises without real results that are causing doubts among analysts and investors. And that's dragging the stock down.

On the next page, you'll see how politics is affecting Musk's wealth and reputation: