Elon Musk, you're in a hole. Stop digging!
Doubling down in his attack on Donald Trump is about as far out as one could go on the risk scale.
The break-up of the wealthiest man on the planet and the world's most powerful is playing out like any romantic split – with cross-court lashings of invective, threats and recriminations. But this divorce is being played out in the public on the combatants-owned social media platforms, X and Truth Social.
And neither man possesses the self-regulation switch that would interrupt an escalation. So BYO popcorn!
Musk can't win, but he can inflict a load of self harm and damage on Tesla shareholders.
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With each breakout in hostilities, the electric carmaker's share price dives – and with it, Musk's wealth. Even without Musk's meltdown, Tesla is already under pressure over a consistent sales slump of its cars and its struggling introduction of robotaxis.
The company is expected to announce a 12 to 13 per cent drop in quarterly sales again this week – a challenge that Musk needs to overcome even before dealing with any further regulatory pain that Trump is capable of inflicting on the company or his other interests, like SpaceX.
The feud escalated into the stratosphere this week when Musk threatened to form a new US political party if Trump's Big Beautiful Bill was passed – which happened on Tuesday US time.
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