Elon Musk bet big on Trump. Here’s what he stands to gain — and lose — from his win

No single business leader did more to support former President Donald Trump’s candidacy than Elon Musk. But the billionaire and his business empire face both positives and negatives after Trump won back the presidency in Tuesday’s election.

No single business leader did more to support former President Donald Trump’s candidacy than Elon Musk. But the billionaire and his business empire face both positives and negatives after Trump won back the presidency in Tuesday’s election. Musk has donated nearly $119 million so far to a political action committee he set up to support Trump, according to Federal Election Commission filings. He’s appeared with Trump at rallies and hosted a fawning interview with him on X, his social media platform. “He’s bet big here. He dove into the deep end of the pool on this election,” said Daniel Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities. Early Wednesday, investors were already betting that Trump’s win will also be a win for Musk’s major public holding, Tesla (TSLA), sending shares of his electric vehicle maker up 12% in premarket trading. That lifted the value of the shares of Tesla that Musk owns outright by more than $12 billion, which works out to a better than a 10,000% return on the $119 million he donated to Trump. But there are risks for Tesla, even from Trump’s victory. Much of Musk’s massive net worth can be traced to the government support his companies, such as Tesla and SpaceX, have received over the years. Even if Vice President Kamala Harris had won, much of that money would have continued to flow. But even if some of the government support for electric vehicles is now trimmed or cut off, as is likely with Trump’s victory, Musk’s wealth will remain firmly intact. In fact, Tesla could benefit if government support for EVs ends. Musk posted numerous tweets on his social media platform X late Tuesday and early Wednesday celebrating Trump’s victory.