Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg's social media reporter and author of "Battle for the Bird," joins Dana Hull, Bloomberg's dedicated Elon Musk reporter. They dive into Musk's surprising announcement of scaling back political contributions and explore the implications for his business empire. The duo discusses Musk's ambitious plans for Twitter as a banking platform, the challenges surrounding his Mars mission, and the prospects of innovative projects like robo-taxis and the humanoid robot Optimus. They even rank Musk's ventures by their likelihood of success.
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insights INSIGHT
Elon's Political Spending Shift
Elon Musk promised to spend less time on political spending but hints at conditions tied to his support.
His recent focus shift back to his companies is likely a signal to investors, not a full political retreat.
insights INSIGHT
Data Center Outage Signals Trouble
A fire at an X data center caused an outage, revealing operational weaknesses.
Elon Musk's commitment to spend more time at work reflects a need to address these technical failures.
insights INSIGHT
Optics Over True Political Exit
Musk's public focus on his companies may be a strategic move to reassure Tesla's board and investors.
His political disengagement seems more about optics than an actual shift away from Washington.
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In 'Battle for the Bird,' Kurt Wagner chronicles the tumultuous history of Twitter, from its humble beginnings as a 140-character microblogging platform to its emergence as a global force shaping politics, culture, and communication. The book delves into the $44 billion takeover by Elon Musk, the rise and fall of key figures like @RealDonaldTrump, and the relentless challenges faced by the company. Wagner provides a meticulous and riveting account through deeply sourced, exclusive interviews, highlighting the clash of visions between Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk and the impact on the flow of news and information.
When Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain interviewed Elon Musk last week, it caused quite a stir. This was especially the case when Musk proclaimed, “in terms of political spending, I’m gonna do a lot less in the future.” (Most news reports missed a sly qualification that made this seem more like an ultimatum. But more on that below). Coverage of the supposed end of Musk’s role as Republican Party’s Sugar Daddy added fuel to the ongoing “what will Elon do now?” frenzy. Over the weekend, a substantial outage at his social media platform X may have added some clarity. In response, the serial entrepreneur announced he was going “back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms.”
Or not. In this episode of Elon, Inc., Max Chafkin brings together Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull and social media reporter Kurt Wagner to discuss whether Musk means what he says about politics, subsidizing the GOP or even going back to work. Is he really leaving politics in the rearview mirror? Or were these statements calculated? Could they be a way for him to intimidate lawmakers who are expecting campaign funds while assuring investors he’s on top of his sometimes struggling companies?
To round things off, they rank Musk’s most immediate plans on a scale of how likely they are to succeed in the foreseeable future. Will it be X Money? A functioning fleet of “robotaxis?” Or maybe shooting Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus to Mars? There was some disagreement.
Elon, Inc. 
