Trump, Tesla backlash and a trillion-dollar payday: This was 2025 for Elon Musk

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Your assist makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Elon Musk isn't out of the highlight. However, even by his requirements, 2025 has been a full-on yr.

Over the previous 12 months, the entrepreneur-turned-government adviser has reached huge enterprise milestones and suffered critical setbacks. He was additionally knocked off the highest spot because the world’s richest man – and is now additional out in entrance than ever earlier than.

All that amid a backdrop of an more and more difficult financial setting, each throughout the US and globally – and with out factoring in non-public life developments, which included the announcement of a reported thirteenth baby being born months earlier.

However enterprise clever, Musk has been all-action, all yr – simply not all of it as easy as he may need wished. Right here, The Unbiased takes a take a look at a yr within the lifetime of Elon Musk.

Doge – and Donald Trump

It feels a very long time in the past however the Division of Authorities Effectivity (Doge) solely got here into being in January 2025, with Musk appointed as a particular authorities worker, successfully giving him a 130-day stint overseeing cuts to the US federal finances, slashing public sector jobs and planning cuts to the US international help programme to the tune of just about $10bn. Naturally, loads of this drew loads of ire, with Invoice Gates a type of to accuse “the world’s richest man [of] killing the world’s poorest youngsters”.

Whereas it may need been anticipated that he a minimum of had the backing of the one that appointed him to the function throughout that spell - President Trump - the connection proved to be fractious and risky, descending into all-out private assaults strewn over social media at one level.

In June, Musk referred to as Trump’s “Huge Stunning Invoice” an “abomination” and shortly after advised on X that “the actually huge bomb [was] Trump is within the Epstein recordsdata”. For his half, the president lambasted Musk as a disappointment. The petty squabbles continued as Trump mentioned the administration could be wanting on the subsidies paid to Musk’s corporations, round probably ending them - although noting it had “to be honest” to the nation and to the entrepreneur alike. Suggesting he’d “have a look” at deporting Musk was hardly “first buddy” materials, both.

Musk formally ended his Doge tenure in Could, weeks after telling Tesla shareholders that he could be spending “way more time” again to specializing in the EV agency, amid a falling share worth and questions over product launches.

Enterprise ups and downs

It will in fact be remiss to not element the successes and milestones that Musk has seen throughout the yr round his many companies.

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(Getty Photographs) Although - as is usually the case in business and particularly the place pushing new boundaries is worried - many ups may be adopted by a down, Musk’s corporations do proceed to provide.

Tesla, for instance, launched their long-range Cybertruck variant partway by means of the yr to a lot acclaim from followers - however an enormous recall to tens of 1000's of earlier fashions over components considerations was a misstep.

Neuralink, Musk’s agency which is creating mind implants to be positioned inside human skulls to help individuals with restricted motion to find a way management units utilizing their ideas, has held a number of medical trials. He says there’s a backlog of 10,000 people who find themselves signed up for it, with the potential for optimistic attain right here plain, but there has additionally been criticism over attainable animal therapy and for submitting as a “small deprived enterprise” within the US regardless of a valuation of $9bn.

Elsewhere Grok 4 was launched in July as a brand new AI mannequin, SpaceX carried out a profitable managed splashdown touchdown with one in all its Starship rockets and The Boring Firm confirmed progress with its ZPIT (Zero Folks In Tunnel) method: digging tunnels, shifting earth and putting in concrete wall segments with no people inside, bettering security and effectivity alongside the best way.

Tesla

But it surely’s unimaginable to separate Musk from one firm particularly, and that one has had extra downs than ups throughout 2025: Tesla.

The share worth, as ever, tells its personal story: from a excessive of round $480 close to Trump’s vote victory final winter, it sunk to about $220 by April, decimated by public notion of its CEO, falling gross sales, widespread financial uncertainty over tariffs and questions over the corporate’s valuation.

If investing in Tesla - and investing in particular person corporations typically - has all the time been a little bit of a rollercoaster, 2025 has maybe marked the a part of the journey with loops, turnbacks and fast accelerations, heading shortly in the direction of the very best peak as we race towards the tip of the calendar yr. Past it? As with all funfair journey, you by no means know till you get there - that’s the joys and the concern of it.

Tesla showrooms confronted vandalism, whereas Musk himself confronted protests aplenty - collections of individuals, bus cease posters, even a automobile smashed to items.

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(Getty Photographs) Some got here within the face of his Doge work, whereas others had been livid at a perceived insulting salute gesture at Trump’s inauguration. But extra got here as feedback emerged from the automobile maker’s chief govt seemingly attempting to entangle himself in different nations’ politics or insurance policies.

The upshot was easy sufficient: falling gross sales.

In Europe particularly, the drop-off has been spectacular - summer season knowledge confirmed Tesla gross sales fell by 40 per cent as competitors from Chinese language producers, reputational injury and a scarcity of latest fashions all performed an element in BYD overtaking it because the dominant rising EV model on the continent. Tesla’s market share had fallen to beneath 1 per cent by that point, and gross sales are down year-on-year regardless of EV gross sales as a complete being up by greater than 1 / 4.

Weak gross sales in India, China and the US add additional worries, regardless of a pickup in September domestically, pushed by patrons beating the expiration of tax credit.

In Norway, the same impact gave a current increase in Europe: Tesla broke information for gross sales by a single producer in a month in November, however somewhat than this being a sustainable development, it seems to have been spurred on by deliberate will increase to taxes on shopping for EVs which come into impact subsequent yr.

However Musk has lengthy felt that automobile gross sales should not the one, or the most important, ace up Tesla’s long-term sleeves.

Self-driving automobiles, robotics, AI and knowledge - all these elements are what many traders level to as future income prospects for the agency. And people inside and out of doors the corporate appear to really feel the identical approach, given the current occasions.

World’s richest individual

Musk is already the world’s richest individual and has been for a while - except for just a few hours when he very briefly misplaced prime spot to Oracle’s Larry Ellison.

Since then, nevertheless, Musk has opened up an enormous hole once more and, at the beginning of December, had a web value of $450bn (£340bn) per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

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Elon Musk (AP) That locations him a full $180bn (£136bn) forward of now-second-placed Larry Web page, of Alphabet. Musk’s web value has grown by nearly $17.5bn (£13.2bn) throughout the course of 2025 and he did turn out to be the primary individual to hit the $500bn mark for a brief interval. But it’s a determine approach past even these riches the place Musk’s yr finishes within the highlight.

Near a full trillion {dollars} is at stake in his new Tesla pay package deal, voted for and accepted by greater than three-quarters of shareholders simply final month. He’ll earn $878bn (£665bn) throughout a decade if he continues to guide the expansion of the corporate to vital manufacturing and valuation milestones, the final of which would depart Tesla value $8.5tn (£6.4tn) - the exact mixed market capitalisation worth of the world’s two greatest public corporations proper now because it occurs, Nvidia and Apple.

The trail to these riches isn't just a “new chapter [...] however a complete new guide,” Musk declared after that pay packet was accepted.

No matter pages 2026 writes for Musk and his many initiatives, he’s unlikely to ever be removed from dramatic progress, fervent criticism or eye-catching headlines - and the cash milestones maintain piling up too.