How Elon Musk will benefit from Trump's presidential victory

When Donald Trump celebrated his presidential victory early Wednesday morning, Elon Musk was right in the middle of it.

“A star is born. Elon,” Trump said on stage at his Mar-a-Lago resort, thanking the world's richest person for his two-week campaign in Pennsylvania.

Musk, who has poured at least $130 million into a pro-Trump campaign, has in recent months turned supporting Trump into another full-time job, funding a swing-state voter registration operation and expanding his social media Platform X used to constantly campaign for its voters' preferred candidate, often using misinformation.

Musk's investment in Trump is already paying off, even if Trump doesn't take office until January 20th.

Tesla Shares rose 15% on Wednesday, adding about $15 billion to Musk's paper value. The electric vehicle maker faces headwinds in the global market from China-based rivals, declining sales in Europe and growing consumer resentment of its political views.

But as Musk warms to Trump and the president-elect promises to cut the kinds of regulations Musk loathes, Wall Street expects Tesla to be a bottom-line beneficiary.

For Musk, the potential gains go far beyond Tesla.

During his victory speech, Trump also praised Musk's SpaceX and thanked Musk for delivering Starlink Wi-Fi terminals to hurricane-hit parts of the US. All of this gives Musk plenty of reasons to be optimistic that a second Trump administration will pay healthy dividends to him and his businesses.

Musk's companies are currently embroiled in a number of federal investigations and lawsuits involving issues such as alleged violations of securities laws, workplace safety, labor and civil rights violations, violations of federal environmental laws, consumer fraud and vehicle safety defects.

Given the executive branch's outsized control over federal regulators, Musk can look forward to regulators and intelligence agencies dropping some or all of the 19 known ongoing federal investigations and lawsuits against Tesla, SpaceX and X, formerly known as Twitter.

On October 27 at New York's Madison Square Garden, Musk was one of many Trump fans and surrogates who spoke during a daylong rally. Much of the coverage of the event focused on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's bigoted jokes, including his description of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of trash.”

Musk was introduced by Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, who called the Tesla CEO the “greatest capitalist” in US history. Lutnick said he and Musk were co-founders of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency and asked Musk how much he thought could be cut from the federal budget.

Musk responded with “at least $2 trillion,” which is more than the federal government’s discretionary budget of $1.7 trillion. The remark drew a scream from Lutnick and applause from the crowd.

Musk didn't specify what he wanted to cut, but he previously accused agencies such as the SEC, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration of overreaching or violating his right to free speech.

He also accused the Biden administration of hiring too many IRS workers and has been vocal in his opposition to a so-called billionaire tax.

A role on a tailored commission could give Musk power over federal agencies' budgets and staffing levels and allow him to push for the elimination of inconvenient regulations.

During a Tesla earnings call on Oct. 23, Musk also said he planned to use his influence with Trump to establish a “federal approval process for autonomous vehicles.” Approvals are currently taking place at the state level.

Tesla has been working on driverless technology for more than a decade, but has not yet developed a robotaxi or vehicle that can be used safely without a human ready to steer or brake at any time.

Additionally, a Trump administration could agree to increase government cooperation with his companies.

Musk's latest startup, xAI, develops large language models and generative artificial intelligence software designed to compete with similar products from Microsoft-backed companies OpenAI, Meta and others.

Meta recently announced that its open source Llama models are available to US government agencies in the defense and national security sectors. And OpenAI is already working with the U.S. military after adding a retired U.S. Army general and former National Security Agency director to its board in June.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

According to FedScout's research on federal spending and prime contracts, SpaceX has received more than $19 billion from federal government contracts since 2008, including from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the Space Force.

FedScout CEO Geoff Orazem says the company is on track to earn billions of dollars annually from prime contracts with the federal government in the coming years.

This figure does not include classified spending, smaller items like Starlink terminals, or spending made at the state level through block grants from the federal government, such as when the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides aid to states recovering from natural disasters.

Meanwhile, Tesla has reported sales of around $10 billion in “automotive regulatory credits,” or environmental credits, since 2015, Orazem found by analyzing the company’s financial records.

These incentives largely derive from federal and state regulations in the U.S. that require automakers to sell a certain number of low-emission vehicles or buy credits from companies like Tesla that often have a surplus.

Regulatory credits were approximately 60% of Tesla's net income in the second quarter of 2024 and 39% in the third quarter. Other government rebates on electric vehicle sales accounted for about 50% of Tesla's third-quarter profit.

Trump has not made clear whether he will maintain these rebates and regulatory lending programs. He previously said he might cut the $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit.

In addition, Trump has promised to cut income taxes and impose high tariffs. During tariffs Although this could help protect Tesla from Chinese competitors, such a move could cause significant disruption to Tesla's automotive supply chain, which relies on some materials and parts from China.

When it comes to worker protections, Musk is attempting to undermine the National Labor Relations Board's constitutional authority through litigation. He may conclude that such lawsuits are no longer necessary if Trump is willing to eliminate or limit the agency's power to ensure that companies follow federal laws that allow workers to form unions and bargain collectively with their to lead employers.

Then there is Musk's commitment to sanctioned governments.

At SpaceX, Musk has denied use of Starlink, the company's satellite internet service, over Taiwan, even for U.S. troops stationed there. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk cut off access because Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly asked for a favor on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a series of ongoing, frequent conversations between the two men.

In response to the reports, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that if they were true, Musk's conversations with Putin should be subject to a federal investigation.

According to an analysis by NBC News, Musk has repeatedly promoted pro-Kremlin content to his hundreds of millions of followers on According to the Justice Department, Tenet was at the center of an alleged Russian sting operation to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.

While Vice President-elect JD Vance recently described Putin as a US adversary, Trump has frequently spoken of his affection for the Russian president, even since Russia's devastating invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kremlin officials celebrated Trump's election victory this week.

Musk, who publicly supported Trump moments after the first assassination attempt on the former president in July, said he wanted to remain involved in U.S. politics for the long term.

He said in a discussion on Tuesday

A priority, Musk said, would be to help elect district attorneys “who will prosecute repeat violent offenders who obviously pose a danger to people.”