Elon Musk’s 2025 recap: how the world’s richest particular person turned its most chaotic

[ad_1] T he yr of 2025 was dizzying for Elon Musk. The tech titan started the yr holding courtroom with Donald Trump in Washington DC. Because the months ticked by, one public look after one other baffled the US and the world. Musk appeared to provide a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration, staunchly championed a 19-year-old staffer nicknamed “Huge Balls,” denied experiences of being a drug addict whereas advising the president, and confirmed up at a White Home press convention with a black eye – all within the first half of the yr alone.

“Elon’s perspective is it's a must to get it accomplished quick. If you happen to’re an incrementalist, you simply received’t get your rocket to the moon,” Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of employees, instructed Vainness Honest in an expansive interview earlier this month. “And so with that perspective, you’re going to interrupt some china.”

Musk noticed big, multibillion-dollar wins and equally massive losses in enterprise this yr. In his dealings with federal businesses, he was in a position to safe new monumental authorities contracts and increase SpaceX’s operations. With Tesla, he was accredited for a pay package deal that might make him the world’s first trillionaire whilst the corporate’s world gross sales plunged. On the identical time, Musk and his companies have been the goal of protests, lawsuits and an exodus of high-level executives. He ended the yr with a fortune value some $600bn.

Within the background, his turbulent private life continued to offer surprises. Rightwing influencer Ashley St Clair sued Musk in February for custody of their five-month-old child, revealing that Musk had fathered a thirteenth publicly documented youngster, for a complete of now 14 kids. As Musk made common assaults in posts on X in opposition to transgender folks, his estranged daughter Vivian Wilson, who's trans, was featured in New York journal and modeled at New York vogue week. And the New York Occasions revealed a prolonged investigation into Musk’s father, Errol Musk, who was accused of kid intercourse abuse.

The connection that dominated Musk’s public life, nevertheless, was his friendship and falling out with Trump. On the day of his inauguration, Trump empowered Musk to intestine authorities businesses, which the tech billionaire did with zeal and abandon. However by June, Musk and Trump had damaged up. Their bromance burned sizzling and quick. On one in every of his ultimate days as a particular authorities worker, Musk lashed out on the president on his social media platform, X, saying: “Time to drop the actually massive bomb: @realDonaldTrump is within the Epstein information.” The publish has since been deleted.

Although the drama surrounding Musk was often absurd and unpredictable, it was additionally consequential. This was a yr when the richest particular person on this planet obtained new ranges of wealth and energy that few in historical past have ever approached, one which demonstrated the depth of his world affect as he sought to advance his rightwing agenda and develop his tech empire.

Whereas Musk had stayed away from Washington DC after the Epstein publish, the billionaire was invited again in November for a White Home dinner in honor of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. By the tip of the yr, Trump and Musk appeared to have made amends. When requested by Fox Enterprise this month if Musk was again in his circle of buddies, Trump steered the 2 may have a future collectively once more.

“Properly, I actually don’t know,” Trump stated. “I imply, I like Elon quite a bit.”

Musk expressed extra remorse than the president over the course the yr had taken. When his former aide Katie Miller requested whether or not he would lead the unofficial “division of presidency effectivity” (Doge) once more, figuring out what he is aware of now, he responded: “As a substitute of doing Doge, I might have labored on my firms. And so they wouldn’t have been burning the vehicles.”

Musk goes to Washington After turning into a Republican mega-donor and campaigning for Trump throughout the 2024 election, Musk started the yr on a excessive as he ready to enter the administration because the de facto chief of Doge. He instantly set a tone of chaos and outrage that may persist for the size of his time within the White Home.

Elon Musk speaks alongside Donald Trump to reporters within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on 30 Might in Washington DC. {Photograph}: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos Throughout Trump’s internationally televised inauguration occasion in January, Musk issued what many individuals interpreted as back-to-back fascist-syle salutes as he concluded a speech. Rights teams condemned the gesture whereas Musk tried to dismiss the criticism as “soiled tips” from legacy media. The response was so intense and damaging that some Tesla homeowners bought their vehicles in response to Musk’s gestures.

Musk spurred additional condemnation from Jewish teams after showing nearly at a rally for Germany’s far-right AfD celebration. The Tesla CEO instructed the gang by way of livestream that Germans shouldn't concentrate on “previous guilt” and “transfer past that” in an obvious reference to Nazi Germany.

A protester holds an indication depicting Elon Musk throughout an illustration exterior of Los Angeles metropolis corridor to display for immigration rights on 5 February. {Photograph}: Qian Weizhong/VCG/Getty Photos As Musk began his work with Doge, the controversies and backlash in opposition to his politics grew. The newly shaped bureau operated first as a unfastened assortment of appointed staffers after which subsumed the US Digital Service. It quickly moved to intestine federal businesses and conduct mass layoffs throughout the federal government whilst ethics watchdogs launched lawsuits accusing Musk’s group of violating privateness and transparency legal guidelines, a few of which proceed at this time. Musk personally bragged about feeding the US Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID), the world’s largest single supplier of humanitarian support, “into the woodchipper”. The cuts would trigger the abrupt cancellation of support applications worldwide, disrupt HIV/Aids remedy for tens of millions and lead to kids ravenous to loss of life in a starvation disaster that specialists agree was useless.

On the annual Conservative Political Motion Convention in February, Musk appeared to relish his new position because the Trump administration’s demolition man. He brandished a chainsaw on stage and instructed the viewers “I'm develop into meme!” as he waved it about in sun shades and a gold chain. In March, he as soon as once more started to pour more cash into Republican causes by holding rallies and handing out $1m checks to assist a conservative decide in Wisconsin’s supreme courtroom race.

The pushback in opposition to Musk’s political blitz quickly started to frustrate his ambitions, nevertheless. Judges that dominated Doge’s actions unlawful or issued short-term injunctions infuriated Musk, who known as for the widespread impeachment of any “activist judges” who opposed his agenda. His most popular candidate within the Wisconsin supreme courtroom race misplaced by a big margin, an indication to some in Washington that Musk’s presence had probably develop into politically poisonous.

Musk left his position within the White Home in Might amid disputes round his decide for who would head Nasa and clashes over Trump’s One Huge Lovely Invoice Act. Upon his exit, he signalled that his time with politics had come to an in depth, claiming he would scale back his marketing campaign finance contributions sooner or later and return to his companies. But he shortly put himself again within the highlight together with his public battle with Trump on social media and vowed he would begin a 3rd political celebration known as the “America celebration,” a promise that has but to come back to significant fruition.

Musk’s political leanings continued to float rightward, allying himself by way of near-constant posts on X interacting with far-right activists reminiscent of Tommy Robinson and telling Joe Rogan that “it needs to be OK to have white delight”. He led a web-based grievance marketing campaign in early October in opposition to the Anti-Defamation League, the nation’s most distinguished Jewish advocacy group, claiming that it “hates Christians” and suggesting that their documenting of extremism inspired homicide. Though now not within the administration, his excessive conservative takes on immigration, race and politics have endured as distinguished options of his public id.

Musk’s constellation of companies The yr in Musk’s companies supplied the billionaire even bigger truckloads of cash than earlier than, regardless of dealing with intense controversy and competitors.

In contrast to different tech moguls, who sometimes helm one firm at a time, Musk sits astride a number of companies. He controls the rocket firm SpaceX and the tunneling and mind implant firms, Boring Inc and Neuralink, respectively. Musk additionally runs the social media firm X, which he purchased for a second time this yr by way of his synthetic intelligence firm xAI. Then there’s Tesla, his electrical automobile firm.

Of all his enterprises, Tesla particularly courted consideration this yr, as folks enraged by Musk’s work with Doge targeted their consideration on the carmaker’s showrooms. Throughout the nation, protesters marched at ongoing “Tesla Takedown” occasions. One signal at a San Francisco protest in March learn: “Burn your swastikar earlier than it burns you.” Dozens of Tesla vehicles and charging stations nationwide have been set on hearth as one-off vandals protested the billionaire.

Protesters maintain indicators after they collect exterior of the Tesla dealership at a ‘Tesla Takedown’ protest on 22 March in New York Metropolis. {Photograph}: John Angelillo/UPI/REX/Shutterstock Although Trump and Musk hosted what amounted to a Tesla gross sales occasion on the garden of the White Home in March, Tesla noticed its gross sales stoop worldwide.

By June, Musk had introduced the rollout of its self-driving robotaxis in Austin. Inside the first week, bystanders had recorded movies of the vehicles having issue turning left or selecting which facet of the street to drive on, which attracted the eye of regulators. These robotaxis, which have been required to function with a human security driver up till earlier this month, have encountered solely a handful of documented security incidents since then.

Lawsuits in opposition to Tesla additionally piled up all year long. In August, a Florida jury awarded greater than $200m to victims of a lethal crash involving its Autopilot know-how in August. And in California, two separate lawsuits have been filed in October over three youngsters who have been killed when a Cybertruck caught on hearth and locked them inside. The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration additionally opened a number of investigations into the carmaker over issues of safety.

Whereas Tesla’s plunge in income continued all year long, that didn’t cease the corporate’s shareholders from approving a pay package deal for Musk – the biggest company payout in historical past – that might catapult him to the standing of the world’s first trillionaire.

Tesla’s yr completed with a blow from California’s division of motor autos. The company stated the automobile firm had misled shoppers and exaggerated the capabilities of its Autopilot know-how. If Tesla doesn’t “treatment the scenario” inside 90 days, the DMV stated earlier in December, the corporate shall be banned from promoting vehicles within the state, its largest US market.

With SpaceX, Musk was in a position to curry favor with the federal authorities. Not solely did his Starlink satellites proceed to dominate the Earth’s ambiance – the SpaceX subsidiary operates the overwhelming majority of all satellites in orbit – however the Federal Aviation Administration and the air power gave SpaceX the go-ahead to extend rocket launches in Florida, Texas and California. This got here regardless of the corporate’s large Starship, a 400ft machine that Musk hopes to someday fly to Mars, repeatedly blowing up and showering shrapnel throughout the Caribbean. One such explosion prompted authorized motion from Mexico, which stated the particles harmed 1000's of endangered sea turtle hatchlings.

Musk additionally consolidated his social media and synthetic intelligence firms this yr. In March, he introduced that xAI had acquired X in an all-stock transaction that he stated valued X at $33bn. Each firms are privately held.

xAI makes the Grok chatbot, which is built-in into X. The chatbot had numerous meltdowns within the second yr since its launch. It pushed conspiracy theories about “white genocide”, claimed Trump received the 2020 election and spewed quite a few antisemitic claims, as soon as referring to itself as “MechaHitler”. However, Musk was in a position to seal a $200m contract from the Division of Protection to combine Grok into federal authorities instruments.

In the meantime, Musk’s xAI datacenters in Memphis, Tennessee, have been accused of polluting traditionally Black neighborhoods. The corporate had moved in dozens of moveable methane gasoline turbines to energy the amenities, initially with out permits, which introduced a number of protests and a pending lawsuit from the NAACP.

Building continues at an xAI datacenter in Memphis, Tennessee on 25 April. {Photograph}: Brandon Dill/The Washington Submit/Getty Photos Neuralink, which operates in relative secrecy in contrast with Musk’s different companies, accelerated the assessments of its mind chips in 2025. The corporate says its product permits an individual restricted management of a pc by way of their ideas. After saying its first profitable implantation in 2024, the corporate introduced in September that it had accomplished the process in 12 sufferers.

All year long, prime executives fled the uproar concerned in managing Musk’s firms. Linda Yaccarino departed as X’s CEO, as did its promoting chief. xAI misplaced its co-founder, chief monetary officer and lead lawyer. Likewise, Tesla noticed a number of government exits, together with the vice-president of North American gross sales, the director of the battery staff, the pinnacle of the “Optimus” robotic venture and a number of other leaders of the corporate’s numerous automobile divisions.

A yr of private feuds Musk, whose life is often animated by grievances and breakups, had a banner yr for high-profile fights, even by his personal requirements. Longstanding feuds reignited whereas his shut relationship with Trump imploded in full public view, all as he posted a gentle stream of assaults in opposition to immigrants, the trans group, the media, Wikipedia and a number of different targets on X, the place he boasts 230 million followers.

Musk started the yr by accusing the federal government of South Africa, his beginning nation, of anti-white racism when he sought approval for his Starlink web supplier to function within the nation. It was a part of a sequence of spats Musk would have with governments overseas and world leaders, together with declaring that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, was “complicit within the rape of Britain” in one in every of his anti-immigration tirades.

As Musk picked fights internationally, he additionally turned a combative presence throughout his time inside the Trump administration. Tensions with different administration officers resulted in experiences of tense conferences within the Oval Workplace and a loud, near-physical yelling match between him and treasury secretary Scott Bessent within the halls of the White Home. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy turned one other adversary in a conflict over the way forward for Nasa, with Musk calling him “Sean Dummy” on X amid a string of different insults.

Even Musk and Trump’s previously shut friendship soured, because the president pushed his One Huge Lovely Invoice Act that eliminated tax credit for electrical autos and threatened to hurt Tesla’s already flagging gross sales. Musk lashed out at Trump on Twitter in June, saying that the invoice’s addition to the deficit would destroy the work Doge had accomplished. The deterioration of their relationship culminated in Musk accusing the president of getting ties to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump, in flip, insinuated he may cancel Musk’s authorities contracts and stated his most distinguished monetary backer had “misplaced his thoughts”.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk communicate to the press as they stand subsequent to a Tesla car on the South Portico of the White Home on 11 March in Washington DC. {Photograph}: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Photos The messy, public breakup between Musk and Trump marked the tip of the Tesla CEO’s time as self-described “first buddy” to the president. Though the 2 have entered a interval of rapprochement in current months, Musk is way from the fixed presence at Trump’s facet that he was on the marketing campaign path.

Musk’s pivot again to his tech empire allowed him to refocus on different grudges, together with in opposition to Sam Altman, his former OpenAI enterprise associate turned rival. Musk added to his sequence of lawsuits in opposition to Altman’s AI firm with a case in August that alleged Apple and OpenAI have been partaking in anticompetitive conduct, an accusation that OpenAI described as a part of Musk’s “sample of harassment” in opposition to the agency. The 2 traded barbs on X, which included preventing over whose posts have been getting extra views.

Considered one of Musk’s ultimate feuds of the yr got here from a extra uncommon supply – famed 87-year-old creator Joyce Carol Oates, whose reducing remark about him on X acquired greater than 5.6m views.

“So curious that such a rich man by no means posts something that signifies that he enjoys or is even conscious of what nearly everybody appreciates – scenes from nature, pet canine or cat, reward for a film, music, a e-book (however doubt that he reads); delight in a buddy’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for somebody who has died; pleasure in sports activities, popularity of a favourite staff; references to historical past,” Oates posted in November.