Tesla shares plunge 15% as Trump-Musk rift intensifies
Tesla shares fell more than 15 per cent on Thursday, as the rift between US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk grew over the president's tax bill.
The two billionaires dismantled swathes of the federal government during Mr Trump's first four months in office, but are now sparring over the contents of a Republican-led budget that is currently being debated by lawmakers in Congress.
'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore,' Mr Trump said in the Oval Office. 'I was surprised.'
While Mr Trump was speaking, Mr Musk sent out a series of tweets critical of Mr Trump and the bill, called the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act'.
'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Mr Musk wrote on X, the platform he bought in 2022.
Shares in Tesla were down 13.46 per cent during afternoon trading, with the company's market capitalisation falling below $1 trillion to $925.21 billion.
Shares in Trump Media fell 4.07 per cent.
Mr Musk, the world's richest man, spent about $300 million during the 2024 election to support Mr Trump and other Republican candidates.
But Tesla, the electric vehicle maker that Mr Musk runs, is likely to be adversely impacted by the budget bill circulating through Congress. The bill would eliminate a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles by the end of this year.
'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave,' Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
'I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!'
Mr Musk responded by tweeting, 'Such an obvious lie. So sad.'
Mr Trump also suggested cutting Mr Musk's government contracts and subsidies.
Mr Musk and his businesses, which includes SpaceX, has received at least $38 billion in government contracts, credits, loans and subsidies, according to an analysis conducted by The Washington Post.
Mr Musk began his series of attacks against the bill – which he branded a 'disgusting abomination' on Tuesday. A non-partisan analysis from the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would add $2.4 trillion to the US debt.
Mr Musk also denied a claim from Mr Trump that 'he knew the inner workings' of the tax bill better than almost anyone else.
'This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it,' he tweeted on Thursday.
Mr Musk departed the White House last week after coming in with plans to slash $2 trillion in federal spending, but he most recently commented that the Department of Government Efficiency would save $150 billion by the end of the 2026 financial year.
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