Billionaire entrepreneur, Elon Musk, faced a dramatic $34 billion decline in his net worth on Thursday, June 5, one of the most substantial single-day financial hits recorded, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The sharp drop followed a tense public exchange with United States President Donald Trump, triggered by a string of provocative tweets from the Tesla and SpaceX founder.
In his posts, Musk made incendiary allegations connecting Trump to Jeffrey Epstein and suggested the former president played a pivotal role in winning the 2024 election.
The claims prompted swift backlash from Trump, who responded by threatening to terminate federal contracts awarded to Musk’s companies.
Trump further escalated the feud by vowing to eliminate the electric vehicle tax credit, a key component of President Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that grants consumers up to $7,500 toward the purchase of EVs.
Tesla, a leading EV manufacturer, has greatly benefited from the incentive.
Musk fired back with a bold threat of his own, stating he would shut down SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft in response.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Business Insider in a statement regarding Musk’s Epstein-related tweet. “The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
Investors responded swiftly to the political drama. Tesla shares plummeted by over 14%, wiping out roughly $138 billion in market value. Bloomberg calculated that $34 billion of that loss was directly tied to Musk’s personal holdings.
This isn’t the first time Musk’s activity on social media has rattled markets. Back in November 2021, he ran a Twitter poll asking followers whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla shares. A majority, 57% of 3.5 million voters, said yes.
The result was a 16% drop in Tesla’s stock that week, slashing $50 billion from Musk’s net worth.
