Elon Musk is mad at Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI. Musk has many grievances with the nonprofit research lab, some of which he has brought up repeatedly on podcasts, during television interviews and in social media posts. Among them: Musk thinks ChatGPT, the company’s AI chatbot, is insufficiently conservative (“WokeGPT,” he likes to call it), worries it might somehow lead to the end of the world if the chatbots get out of control and seems to be very frustrated about receiving insuff...
Mar 05, 2024•31 min
The Deal , hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, features intimate conversations with business titans, sports champions and game-changing entrepreneurs who reveal their investment philosophies, pivotal career moves and the ones that got away. From Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals, The Deal is available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart , Bloomberg Carplay, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Television, and Bloomberg Originals on YouTube ....
Feb 29, 2024•2 min
What happens when Elon's formula for success goes wrong? In this episode we explored the failings of the Boring Company, Musk’s tunneling venture, with Bloomberg startups reporter Sarah McBride. When Musk started the company, in 2016, he did so with wild promises about super fast “hyperloop” travel, advanced tunnel boring machines, and dramatically lowered costs. But, as Bloomberg Businessweek reported yesterday, Boring Company workers say that Musk has achieved little in the way of actual innov...
Feb 27, 2024•30 min
In this bonus episode, Max Chafkin sits down with Bloomberg social media reporter Kurt Wagner to talk about Wagner’s new book Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter’s Soul. So why DID Elon buy Twitter? Max and Kurt explore three theories, including that Musk bought Twitter to confound a guy tracking his private jet, in an attempt to answer that—and many other—questions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 22, 2024•30 min
Over the past year or so, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system has become increasingly important—and along with that, valuable. It’s been in the news recently because Ukrainian officials said that Russia was using Starlink to help their military operations in occupied parts of Ukraine—something Musk himself has denied. At the same time, though, Musk has been vocal about his opinion that the US should not continue funding Ukraine in their fight against Russia, an opinion shared by many rightwing...
Feb 20, 2024•29 min
Following a Superbowl attack ad, this week’s episode sees the crew discussing the challenges (and opportunities posed by) Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. Then they welcome Barry Ritholtz, host of the podcast Masters in Business and the founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management, to the studio for a wide-ranging conversation about Musk’s prowess as a manager and as a marketer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 13, 2024•31 min
Lately, Tesla has been one of the stock market’s biggest losers. Since the beginning of the year, the company has dropped about $200 billion in market capitalization, making it the single-worst performing stock on the S&P 500. The spiral has come amid a storm of negative headlines—especially regarding slowing growth in electric vehicle purchases—a category Tesla has long dominated. Worse for Tesla, some of the most negative headlines were ones caused by Musk’s own erratic decisionmaking. To ...
Feb 06, 2024•27 min
Yesterday’s Delaware court ruling could cost Elon Musk more than just $55 billion. The scathing, 200-page decision—by the same judge who presided over a case that led to Musk paying $44 billion for Twitter—called out the billionaire CEO for failing to disclose his sway over supposedly independent board members. She went on to characterize the pay package as unfair to shareholders and voided it. To analyze what this means for Tesla and Musk’s other companies, Elon , Inc. called together long-time...
Jan 31, 2024•20 min
Since 2019, Musk has promised that his company Neuralink, which is developing computer chips to be implanted in people’s brains, was close to performing an experimental surgery on it first human subject. And yesterday he could at last announce: “The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well” Having finally delivered on his prediction, Musk used the occasion to tease a proposed product name, Telepathy. To discuss Neuralink’s achievement, Bloomberg tech repor...
Jan 30, 2024•30 min
For years, Tesla fans and critics alike have produced mock bingo cards ahead of Tesla earnings calls. And so, in honor of Tesla’s next call, which will be held Jan. 24 after markets close, the Elon Inc. crew produced our own bingo game. This week we preview Tesla’s Q4 2023 earnings and introduce our picks for which Muskisms will carry the day. You can download a PDF of this quarter’s bingo card here . In this episode we also recap the other major events from the week: A visit to Auschwitz, a far...
Jan 23, 2024•28 min
This week, the crew is joined by Bloomberg tech reporter Davey Alba to discuss how Musk is increasingly engaging with memes and misinformation favored by Donald Trump and his supporters. In recent months, Musk has shown an openness to Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen and that the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol was a not a failed insurrection, but instead a government conspiracy. He’s also promoted the idea that white people are under threat from Black people and immigrants—popul...
Jan 16, 2024•30 min
Were we talking about almost any other executive, the report by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend about Elon Musk’s alleged drug use would have qualified as a bombshell. The article contends the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla has used a collection of substances. This, according to the Journal’s unidentified sources, has caused consternation within Musk’s companies, with Tesla board members and SpaceX executives privately expressing concerns that the alleged drug use may be making Mus...
Jan 09, 2024•28 min
Over the past decade, Elon Musk’s car company has transformed itself from a niche brand with a novelty product into a major automotive manufacturer and clear market leader. And yet, Tesla Inc.’s leadership position in electric cars is slipping. On Jan. 2, the company reported it delivered almost 485,000 vehicles to customers. The figure was in line with Wall Street expectations, but slightly less than that reported by China’s BYD Co., which delivered roughly 526,000 electric cars. On the latest ...
Jan 02, 2024•26 min
For better or worse, 2023 was the Year of Elon. The world’s richest man entered the year humbled: Tesla’s stock had fallen precipitously over the previous 12 months, Musk had been forced by a Delaware judge to buy Twitter (since renamed X) at what looked like an inflated price (one he’d set himself, in what now looks like the world’s most misguided attempt at a weed joke), and he’d been booed by an arena full of Dave Chappelle fans. (Musk claimed, limply, that the crowd was mostly cheering “exce...
Dec 26, 2023•38 min
When Elon Musk announced his new AI chatbot “Grok” last month, almost everything about it looked like a publicity stunt or a vanity project or both. The product was seemingly built over a matter of months, it was only available to a small group of X users and its chief selling point was Musk’s promise it wouldn’t be constrained by the “woke mind virus.” He boasted that Grok’s chatbot was “based”—a slang term meaning unapologetically right wing—and posted fratty memes meant to emphasize Grok’s do...
Dec 19, 2023•31 min
For years, Elon Musk has fended off efforts by the United Auto Workers to unionize his factory in Fremont, California, where Tesla Inc. employs roughly 20,000 workers. But in recent weeks, Musk has struggled to contend with a seemingly less formidable threat: a tiny contingent of Scandinavian mechanics. This determined group is creating serious problems for the company across northern Europe. Bloomberg News editor Craig Trudell joins us this week to talk about a recent strike by employees at Swe...
Dec 12, 2023•29 min
This time we assess the aftermath of an especially gonzo week in the life of Elon Musk—one in which the billionaire CEO delivered the first production units of his company’s latest vehicle (the Cybertruck), weighed in on his preferred candidates for the 2024 election (neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden) and offered a message to the chief executive of one of America’s most beloved brands (“Go f— yourself”). Such trash talk and worse has left Musk somewhat isolated, with advertisers like Disney st...
Dec 05, 2023•32 min
The first shipments of Tesla Inc.’s long awaited Cybertruck are expected on Thursday—a momentous event given the years of anticipation. Bloomberg senior reporter Dana Hull joins this episode of Elon, Inc. to discuss the futuristic truck and its four years of engineering and development delays. But first, we speak with reporter Marissa Newman about Elon Musk’s recent trip to the Israel-Gaza border. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 28, 2023•29 min
It’s been about a week since X-owner Elon Musk ignited a firestorm by endorsing antisemitic and racist posts on his social media platform. Since then, X Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino has been scrambling to contain the fallout as major advertisers like IBM, Sony, Discovery, Apple and CBS stopped or paused spending on the site. We take a look at what has happened. Also, how does the OpenAI mess impact Musk? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 21, 2023•27 min
Emergency pod! We are back in the studio for a second time this week to discuss the fallout of recent X posts by Elon Musk. Musk—who often posts controversial material—has taken things a step further in recent days, openly praising racist and antisemitic posts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 17, 2023•25 min
On Friday, SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Starship spacecraft for the second time. The first time yielded… mixed results. It was detonated within minutes of launch. In this episode we look back at what went wrong the first time, look ahead to the coming launch, and figure out what’s so difficult about space travel anyway. We also take a look at some recent statements from Elon on things like OpenAI and freedom of speech. This episode is hosted by Bloomberg executive editor David Papadopoulos,...
Nov 14, 2023•27 min
Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink wants to implant a tiny chip in people’s brains, and it’s looking for a volunteer for its first clinical trial. Ashlee Vance, a Musk biographer and Bloomberg Businessweek contributor, made nearly a dozen visits to Neuralink facilities over the past three years for this week’s cover story on Neuralink. He’s reported on a robot brain-surgeon, an impatient Musk and a surreal scenes of smoothie-sipping, brain-chipped monkeys. Musk has reshaped an entire industry, and th...
Nov 07, 2023•23 min
In our inaugural episode, we take a close look at the latest industry Musk wants to disrupt: artificial intelligence. We also discuss something that might disrupt Elon: after scoring big union wins in Detroit, UAW's Shawn Fain has set his eyes on Tesla. This episode is hosted by Bloomberg executive editor David Papadopoulos, who is joined by Bloomberg Businessweek senior reporter Max Chafkin, Bloomberg editor Sarah Frier and senior reporter Dana Hull. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...
Nov 07, 2023•34 min
At Bloomberg, we’re always talking about the biggest business stories, and no one is bigger than Elon Musk. In this new chat weekly show, host David Papadopoulos and a panel of guests including Businessweek’s Max Chafkin, Tesla reporter Dana Hull, Big Tech editor Sarah Frier, and more, will break down the most important stories on Musk and his empire. Coming November 7th. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 01, 2023•1 min
