Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the world's richest man, saw his net worth increase by approximately $20 billion after Donald Trump secured victory in the U.S. presidential election.
Some $13 billion of that rise came as Tesla's stock price experienced a surge in early trading Wednesday morning, rising by 12.7% to $283.24 as of 9:40 a.m. ET from the previous day's closing price of $251.44.
Musk owns over 411 million shares in Tesla—about 13 percent of the company's outstanding common stock—making him the largest individual shareholder.
Musk also has large stakes in social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and space technology company SpaceX. According to the Forbes real-time billionaires list, Musk's net worth was most recently calculated at $285.2 billion.
Tesla's stock surge added about $120 billion to its market value, pushing it above $900 billion for the first time since July 2023, according to Barron's.
The boost in Tesla's share price coincided with Trump's election win after The Associated Press called key swing states in his favor. Musk donated nearly $120 million to Trump's campaign.
Newsweek reached out to Tesla and Donald Trump via email for comment.
In his victory speech, Trump praised Musk, calling him "a new star" and "a super genius." Trump highlighted Musk's accomplishments with SpaceX and the impact of Starlink's satellite communications service during Hurricane Helene.
"[Musk is] a character, he's a special guy, he's a super genius. We have to protect our geniuses—we don't have that many of them," Trump said during his speech.
Trump's victory is expected to bring significant changes to the electric vehicle (EV) industry. While a Trump administration may reduce support for EVs by potentially eliminating purchase tax credits, Tesla could benefit from reduced competition and regulatory hurdles.
A second Trump term could also mean reduced regulations—something Musk and Trump have been vocal about—which would benefit Tesla's new Cybercab business, also known as the Robotaxi. Regulatory approvals will be necessary for launching this service on schedule in late 2025.
Trump has previously expressed a negative view of the electric vehicle market, saying that EV buyers should "rot in hell." In a March 2024 interview he said EVs "cost too much" to manufacture and would "be made in China" in the future.
Since his association with Musk, Trump has rowed back a little on these strong opinions, stating at a rally in June, "Well, I like Elon, but the car ... I'm all for them if you want to go to the candy store, buy yourself a little candy and come back home. But if you want to take a trip to a place like Mar-a-Lago to say hello to me, you better get yourself a different mode of transportation."
At a later rally, Trump's opinion softened further, with him saying: "I'm for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice."
Underscoring this cautious alignment with Musk on EVs, Trump said at a campaign event in Michigan: "I've driven them and they are incredible, but they're not for everybody."
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Marie Boran is a Newsweek reporter based in Carlow, Ireland. Her focus is reporting on technology. She has covered the ... Read more