Tech billionaire Elon Musk now finds himself one of the most powerful non-governmental figures in American history — and it has a lot of his critics and business rivals worried of reprisal under a Donald Trump administration, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The two men grew close during the 2024 election campaign, with Musk — now the richest man on the planet through his Tesla electric vehicle company and government contract-funded SpaceX firm — bankrolling much of Trump's field operations. Trump in turn appointed him to head up an informal task force he has called the "Department of Government Efficiency."
The upshot, said the report, is that Musk "is poised to have significant influence not only over how his six companies, including X, Tesla and SpaceX, interact with the federal government — SpaceX has accumulated more than $15 billion in federal contracts over the last decade — but also over how the new administration treats his rivals."
Among those who fear retaliation is Sam Altman, director of OpenAI, whom Musk has directly sued and attacked as he tries to build a rival AI brand. To try to mitigate the risk, "Altman has been in contact with friends and business associates within Trump’s circle, including Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law; and Josh Kushner, his brother and the owner of the venture-capital firm Thrive Capital that is a major investor in OpenAI.
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"Not much has worked so far. Some Altman contacts have been hesitant to pass on his entreaties, knowing how unwelcome they would be to Musk."
But Altman is not alone. Other people who could be targeted include Bill Gates, the tech billionaire and philanthropist, who raised Musk's ire for short-selling Tesla stock, and Disney's Bob Iger, whom he directly attacked in a profane rant for pausing spending on X as it became more of a haven for alt-right traffic. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who heads up the rival space exploration company Blue Origin, could also be a target.
“It just makes me nervous in general, the way I have seen Trump make decisions…and certainly Musk as well. Musk clearly has influence now,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who serves as ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Journal.
