
Elon Musk's net worth slumps by $27 billion after feud with Trump: report
Listen to article
Elon Musk faced a significant financial setback on Thursday, losing approximately $27 billion from his net worth after a dramatic plunge in Tesla's stock, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA.O) dropped 14% overnight, erasing $150 billion in market value, following a public feud between Musk and Trump.
Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
In the aftermath, Trump threatened to cut off government contracts to Musk's companies, escalating tensions between the two.
False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it! https://t.co/V4ztekqd4g — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 5, 2025
However, Tesla shares saw a slight rebound, bouncing 0.8% in after-hours trading.
Read more: Musk accuses Trump of being named in Epstein files
Despite the loss, Musk remains the world's richest individual, with an estimated net worth of $388 billion, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's wealth remains substantially ahead of the second-ranked Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth stands at $236 billion.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, whose net worth is estimated at $5.4 billion, is at No. 689 on the Forbes ranking.
Also read: Trump, Musk feud explodes with threats of cutting contracts, backing impeachment
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistan condemns US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites
Listen to article Pakistan on Sunday condemned the United States for launching strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling the move a violation of international law and warning it could further destabilise the region. The US attacks come on the 10th day of the Israel-Iran war sparked by Israel's wave of strikes in Iran on June 13th, escalating fears of broader regional escalation. Islamabad expressed grave concern over the rising tensions and urged all parties to refrain from further aggression. Read: Netanyahu seeks support for Iran strikes as Trump mulls US attack 'within two weeks' 'These attacks violate all norms of international law. Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself under the UN Charter,' Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement. 🔊PR No.1️⃣8️⃣2️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ Pakistan Condemns the US Attacks on the Nuclear Facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 🔗⬇️ — Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) June 22, 2025 Terming the situation 'deeply disturbing,' the statement warned that the 'unprecedented escalation of violence' could have far-reaching implications beyond the Middle East. Pakistan also stressed the importance of protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, urging all sides to respect International Humanitarian Law. 'Recourse to dialogue and diplomacy in line with the principles of the UN Charter remains the only viable pathway,' the Foreign Office said, adding that the conflict must be brought to an immediate end. The statement comes amid mounting global concern over the growing confrontation involving Iran, Israel, and now the United States, raising the risk of a wider war in the region. Read More: Isfahan centrifuge site struck amid Israel's bombing campaign, says IAEA The strikes targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — according to US President Donald Trump, who announced the operation on his Truth Social platform. 'All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,' Trump wrote, calling the operation a success. He praised the US military and declared, 'Now is the time for peace.' Earlier, Pakistan said it would recommend Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in de-escalating a recent military standoff between Islamabad and New Delhi. "President Trump demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi, which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation," Foreign Office said.


Express Tribune
2 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Trump's war on the undocumented
It begins in the dead of night – ICE agents raiding factories, restaurants and farms, while families sleep unaware as the state flexes its full disciplinary muscle, reviving the ghosts of America's exclusionary past with a vengeance that is unmistakably contemporary. What Donald Trump hails as 'the largest deportation operation in American history' is unfolding as a dark and sweeping expansion of state machinery – an iron-fisted blend of ICE raids, sprawling detention centres and legal shortcuts dug up from the dustiest corners of America's statute books to shore up both physical and social borders. Framed as the fulfilment of his campaign vows, Trump's vision for a 'new America' rests on what Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito terms 'immunitas': the sovereign's feverish attempt to insulate itself from perceived contamination. In the Trumpian worldview, the 'disposable labour' extracted from nations long ravaged by US foreign policy is now being cast aside like a used tool – mercilessly and by design. Even some of Trump's allies are starting to shift in their seats. Joe Rogan, one of his most prominent supporters, recently sounded an alarm: 'We've got to be careful that we don't become monsters while we're fighting monsters.' However, the warnings from the populist leader's base remain steeped in the same obscene necropolitical logic that draws lines between the human and the subhuman – the 'monsters'. The protests now erupting across the US are not new but mark a renewed moment of convergence between immigration enforcement and a long, bloody history of racialised labour control. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to ICE's post-9/11 rise, the American state has always policed its borders by criminalising racialised 'others' while exploiting their labour. The Trump-era raids echo the worksite crackdowns of the 1980s and Obama's courthouse arrests. However, with 80-strong factory raids, convoys blocking roads and National Guard troops deployed without state consent, this is a new escalation. There is no new crisis driving the ongoing assault but an old political trick: manufacture the spectacle of invasion to fuel nationalist panic and weaponise it against workers and dissent. Across the country, working-class communities – immigrant and non-immigrant alike – have taken to the streets. From handcuffed migrants to student walkouts, from union banners to handmade placards reading 'Mi familia, no se separa,' the resistance is multi-generational and deeply grounded. The border wars and the street wars have converged. For many, the raids are not just about immigration. They reject the logics of neoliberal 'security', challenging the premise that human life can be reduced to economic cost or to statistics in a detention ledger. In Washington, a different story is being told. The Trump administration, flanked by DHS officials and amplified by mainstream networks, insists this is a crackdown on 'criminals'. Protestors are dismissed as 'lawless mobs'. Trump, in his typical red meat rhetoric, even declared that Los Angeles had been 'invaded and occupied' and vowed to 'liberate' it. Attorney General Ashley Bell pledged to prosecute protestors aggressively. However, immigrant communities, organisers and rights activists see through the smoke, contending that the real criminals are those tearing families apart to prop up a neoliberal system that depends on cheap, precarious and deportable labour. Undocumented migrants have long formed a surplus army for US capitalism, hyper-exploitable because their fear makes them compliant. Seen through this lens, border enforcement is a farce dressed as a national security issue. It's about preserving racial capitalism, disciplining people of colour and preserving profit margins. The 'rule-of-law' narrative is thus inverted: the deeper violence lies not in protest, but in decades of war, trade policy and austerity that drive migration. Colonial Legacies and Necropolitics The domestic clashes cannot be understood without their global and historical context. The US border is not a neutral line. It is a colonial scar. From Indigenous dispossession to wars in Mexico and the Caribbean, the very idea of the border was forged in empire. Migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America or the Caribbean are not 'invaders', they are survivors of systems created, in part, by US policy. Their displacement is the aftershock of coups, land grabs and extractive economics. As protesters take to the streets with Mexican and Black flags, slogans like 'Here we stay' invoke historical truth: these cities were built by the very people now being hunted. Through the lens of Frantz Fanon, one sees how the immigrant becomes a 'zone of non-being', excluded from rights so the state can justify violence and deprived of the 'right to have all rights'. Fanon's psychology of the oppressed reveals that the migrant is demonised in discourse precisely to justify state violence. Indeed, as Fanon noted, the social order locks 'white people into whiteness, Black people into blackness'. The point is both theoretical and practical: immigrants exist outside the democratic community in the state's eyes, made 'other' so their rights are negotiable. Under such logic, US immigration policy embodies what Achille Mbembe has called necropolitics: the power to define who may live and who must die or suffer. Migrants in detention centres are literally at the mercy of a system designed to wear them down psychologically and physically. Reports of children in cages, or men packed into vans with little water, reveal a state's willingness to inflict slow violence. One organiser reported that 'intimidation and terror' – the kind seen in San Diego's restaurant raids – is now routine. The state is not just locking people up to fight crime. It is managing poverty while disciplining surplus lives. That's the essence of what Loïc Wacquant calls 'prisonfare'. Immigration raids slot neatly into this logic: not just law enforcement, but a pipeline into the detention-industrial complex. While the discourse on criminal justice reform grows louder, migrants remain outside its moral perimeter – detained without charges, deported without explanation, excluded from rights others are beginning to reclaim. By the Numbers Trump's ambition is staggering: one million deportations in his first year. The US currently houses around 13 million undocumented immigrants—roughly 4% of its population. Nearly 80% have lived in the US for over a decade, many with US-born children. In 2022, undocumented immigrants contributed $69 billion in taxes. And yet, they are being targeted en masse. ICE has just 6,000 officers, but Trump has expanded its powers, enlisted other federal agencies like the IRS, and reopened detention facilities. He has even floated reactivating Alcatraz. Legal protections are being stripped. Trump has fired immigration judges, expanded expedited removals and invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans without hearings. Some were sent not to Venezuela, but to a supermax prison in El Salvador. Justifications included tattoos, nationality and assumed gang affiliation – no due process, no evidence. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Afghanistan is also on the chopping block. Collateral arrests and raids in schools, churches, and hospitals are back. Even programs like Project Homecoming, which offer $1,000 to 'voluntarily' return, function as soft coercion. One calculation found that 72,000 people were deported in Trump's first 98 days, roughly 737 per day, nearly double the daily average under Biden. What remains, then, is a moral and political question: who belongs, and on what terms? If the answer depends on citizenship, productivity or compliance, then millions will remain outside the circle of rights. In the mainstream imagination, human rights are often tethered to the sanctity of citizenship. However, as Hannah Arendt famously warned, the stateless are those who have lost the 'right to have rights'. If rights are contingent upon national membership, then what remains for the undocumented, the displaced, the 'others' at the border of recognition? What happens next is uncertain. The administration has vowed to intensify its programme of detentions and deportations. But activists report that every raid is now met with instant organising by union halls, churches and community centres. Grassroots patrols spot ICE vehicles in advance, legal teams mobilise at courthouses and protest waves continue. Even as the White House drums up images of chaos, those on the ground insist their cause is orderly and just. In the words of a young organiser at a Philly vigil, this is more than crisis management – it is a moment of international morality: 'We're fighting for the working class, for immigrants, for our freedom. We won't back down.'


Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Tesla expected to launch long-discussed robotaxi service
NEW YORK: Tesla is expected to begin offering robotaxi service Sunday in Austin, an initial step that Elon Musk's backers believe could lead to the company's next growth wave. The launch – which comes as Musk refocuses on his business ventures following a controversial stint in Donald Trump's administration – will employ the Model Y sport utility vehicle rather than Tesla's much-touted Cybercab, which is still under development. The long-awaited launch follows the dramatic meltdown earlier this month in relations between Musk and Trump, which saw a cascade of bitter attacks from both men. Since then, Musk has publicly expressed regret for some of his statements, while his company's Texas operation has readied the Austin push – part of a major drive on autonomous technology and artificial intelligence that Tesla bulls believe will yield huge profits. This group includes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who said autonomous technology could be a catalyst for potentially $1 trillion in additional market value or more. 'There are countless skeptics of the Tesla robotaxi vision with many bears thinking this day would never come,' said Ives, who predicted that Trump's administration would clear roadblocks for Tesla and pivot from the recent 'soap opera.' 'The golden era of autonomous for Tesla officially kicks off on Sunday in Austin,' Ives said in a note Friday. Business-friendly Texas But the unveiling in the Texas state capital comes amid questions about how Tesla will try to overcome criticism of Musk's activities for Trump. Tesla saw profits plunge 71 percent in the first quarter following poor sales in several markets. In picking Austin for the debut of the autonomous vehicle (AV) service, Musk is opting for a US state known for its company-friendly approach to regulation. 'Texas law allows for AV testing and operations on Texas roadways as long as they meet the same safety and insurance requirements as every other vehicle on the road,' the Texas Department of Transportation told AFP. An Austin website listed six autonomous vehicle companies at various stages of operation: ADMT (Volkswagen), AVRide, Tesla, Zoox (Amazon), Motional (Hyundai) and Waymo (Alphabet/Google). But the Texas legislature this year enacted a new bill that requires prior authorization from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles before companies can operate on a public street without human drivers, a group of seven Democratic lawmakers said in a June 18 letter to Tesla. Citing the enhanced system, the lawmakers asked Tesla to delay testing until after the law takes effect September 1. Tesla to build battery plant in Shanghai If Tesla proceeds with the launch this weekend, 'we request that you respond to this letter with detailed information demonstrating that Tesla will be compliant with the new law,' the letter said. Starting slow Musk had initially planned the launch for June 12, before pushing back, saying he was being 'super paranoid' about safety. But that number will rise to perhaps 1,000 'within a few months,' Musk told CNBC. 'And then we will expand to other cities…. San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio.' The service will be offered from 6:00 am until midnight and will be available to 'early access' users on an invitation-only basis in a geofenced area, Tesla owner Sawyer Merritt said Friday on Musk's X platform, adding that Tesla had given him permission to release the information. Musk last fall unveiled the Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals. But production is not expected to begin on the vehicle until 2026. Tesla's robotaxi launch comes well after Waymo's offering of commercial robotaxi service, with more US cities gradually added. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in October 2024 opened a probe into Tesla's Full Self-Driving software after receiving four reports of crashes. The NHTSA on May 8 asked Tesla for additional information on its technology in light of the Austin launch. But the NHTSA does not 'pre-approve' new technologies, the agency told AFP. 'Rather, manufacturers certify that each vehicle meets NHTSA's rigorous safety standards, and the agency investigates incidents involving potential safety defects,' the NHTSA said.