How Elon Musk Won His No Good, Very Bad Year

What a weird time to be Elon Musk.

This year opened with the businessman turned political operator throwing what appeared, to Nazis at least, to be a Sieg heil.

This spring, activists frequently congregated outside the showrooms of his automaker, Tesla, to protest his foray into the US federal government and cozy relationship with President Trump. They argued that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-slashing operation named after a more than decade-old internet meme, didn’t slash much beyond foreign aid. They cheered as Tesla missed Wall Street’s financial expectations.

In May, Musk blew up his relationship with the most powerful man on Earth with a few vicious posts on X; the most powerful man on Earth called him a “TRAIN WRECK.” Tesla kept leaking money. DOGE fell victim to Washington infighting; it is now reportedly decentralized and a shadow of the Musk personal fiefdom it once was.

And yet: It seems Elon Musk is getting out of 2025 OK? Or, to put it succinctly: Elon Musk may not be the king of the world, but Elon Musk is still very, very powerful.

Money isn’t everything, but when it comes to the richest human in the known universe, it’s worth looking at the numbers. Tesla did a bit of flailing this year (more on that in a sec), and historically, much of Musk’s wealth has been derived from the world’s most valuable automaker. That should be bad news for Musk. But it’s become increasingly clear that the Tesla CEO’s other, private companies—SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink—have kept his portfolio diversified, shielding the aspiring trillionaire from some of the whipsaws of the public market.

Musk is worth some $462 billion according to Bloomberg, and his stake in Tesla is valued at $140 billion, according to financial filings—less than half of his fortune. Overall, Musk’s wealth is up $29 billion since last year.

So how did a guy who began the year as the president’s “First Buddy” and ended it as a political pariah pull it off? It was, mostly, a tale of two companies: Tesla hitting some white water while SpaceX shot satellites into orbit and snapped up government contracts. Musk, meanwhile, cheered on from X, a website that he appears to have massively overpaid for in 2022. But the investment worked; the platform set the pace for political and social commentary amongst the global right wing for much of 2025.

By all accounts, Tesla had a less-than-stellar year. The US electric vehicle market foundered as Trump’s government cut tax subsidies and support for battery and vehicle manufacturing plants. It levied, then pulled back, and then levied again global tariffs that have strained the entire US auto industry. Musk’s company wasn’t immune from the effects.