Photo: Debbie Rowe / The Royal Society
Elon Musk’s paper wealth fell about $113 billion over two days as Tesla and SpaceX shares slid following Democrats’ midterm-election sweep, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows.
Musk lost about $33.5 billion on Wednesday and another $79.7 billion in Thursday’s selloff, as of the Nov. 5 market close. Tesla shares fell 3.3% and SpaceX shares fell 3.8% on Wednesday even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its best day after a midterm election in 44 years. On Thursday the Dow gave back those gains, falling 1,833 points, about 3.5%, in a broader technology-stock selloff that took the S&P 500 down about 4.4% and the Nasdaq about 5.5%.
About $456 billion in company value erased
Combined, the two companies’ market value fell from about $3.5 trillion to about $3.04 trillion over the two days, a loss of roughly $456 billion, the companies’ closing values show. Tesla ended the two days at about $1.36 trillion in market value, about 86% of its level before the slide, and SpaceX at about $1.68 trillion, about 87%.
Investors are weighing the prospect of closer congressional scrutiny of Musk’s businesses after Democrats’ election gains. Democrats have signaled plans to investigate Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency and potential conflicts of interest, as SpaceX holds billions of dollars in federal contracts. A spokesperson for Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming House Oversight Committee chair, said last month that Musk’s DOGE role “is something we plan to investigate.”
“The nail that sticks out gets hammered first, and Musk has certainly stuck out,” Keith Snyder, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said. Snyder called the selloff a “knee-jerk reaction” to the election, noting that President Donald Trump retains veto power over major AI restrictions and remains friendly toward Musk.
Musk spent an estimated $427.5 million to $483 million backing Republicans in the midterms, the spending estimates show.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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