Elon Musk is at the helm of six diverse ventures, with X, a popular social media platform, and Neuralink, an advanced neural technology company, among them. Nonetheless, his space transportation company, SpaceX, and his innovative electric vehicle enterprise, Tesla, are the two that profit the most from public funds. A staggering sum exceeding $13 billion has been furnished to Musk’s companies in the form of government contracts during the past half decade.
In the particular year of 2024, contracts from the government accounted for a total of $3.8 billion. A substantial proportion of these contracts are associated with two major entities – The Department of Defense and NASA. His ventures have garnered a hefty sum from the Defense Department’s contracts, with estimates touching into the billions, although the total amount is yet to be fully disclosed due to certain confidentialities.
The 45th American President, Donald Trump, has given Musk an almost unrestricted latitude to instigate cost-cutting measures, even if it affects the workforce. Regulatory actions towards Musk’s SpaceX were proposed and announced last Fall, suggesting penalties over $600,000 for breaches related to licensing.
In addition to this, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently has its sights set on SpaceX, with investigations around safety transgressions underway. This could have a negative impact on some of Musk’s ventures. Musk, on his part, has voiced out for the disbandment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a significant regulator in the financial space.
Another facet of Musk’s ingenious strategy has been his move to position X as a multi-utility app, with added functionalities like a digital wallet for its users to facilitate money transfers. X Money, as it is being called, is all set to make its debut in the upcoming year.
Given the CFPB’s key role in the supervision of digital payment systems, a weakened CFPB might prove advantageous to Musk’s new digital currency initiative, X Money. Furthermore, a recent trend of dismissals among Inspectors General appears to be eroding important regulatory safeguards.
So far, President Trump has reportedly dismissed upwards of 17 Inspectors General. The inspectors constitute an integral part of the mechanism that ensures adherence to ethical norms by government employees, as well as the legal compliance of companies receiving government contracts.
Without complete transparency on Musk’s financial disclosures, both from him and the White House, it is challenging to grasp the full range of his potential conflicts of interest. Equally, the extent to which he personally profits from his overarching control of these government systems continues to remain unclear.