Good morning.
Oh, to be inside the mind of Elon Musk. President-elect Donald Trump has called him a “super genius” and promised to create a new “government efficiency” position for Musk in his administration. His super PAC played a critical role in Trump’s victory, reaching millions of people in battleground states through advertising, paying people to knock on doors and a controversial $1 million giveaway that could change the script for how future candidates get out the vote. His net worth jumped $26.5 billion the day after the election, cementing his place as the world’s richest man while making the $130 million-plus he spent on campaigning look like money well spent. The only bummer this week was having gamers challenge his claim to being one of the 20 best Diablo 4 players in the world.
Musk’s MVP status with the incoming president makes one wonder where he’ll exert his newfound influence. Two areas that come to mind:
How does he hope to shape the U.S. relationship with China?
On the one hand, the Biden administration’s tariffs on Chinese EVs created an easier competitive landscape for Tesla in its home market. On the other, China is also home to Tesla’s biggest factory in the world and a key target for sales as it remains the world’s biggest auto market. Musk has also called Taiwan “an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China” and asked SpaceX’s Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing outside Taiwan. Will Musk be an ally to Beijing in its push to ease trade relations?
What impact will he have on social policy, especially pertaining to families?
Musk, father of 12 with three different mothers, argues that “population collapse” is the No. 1 issue facing civilization and believes this “demographic time bomb” is a bigger problem than climate change. Musk once jokingly offered to impregnate Taylor Swift. He has also implied he’d support tax breaks for childcare and other policies to help working families. Having initially cut parental leave at Twitter (now X) from 20 weeks to two weeks, Musk doesn’t appear to see a correlation between having babies and raising them. Having conceived some of his kids through IVF and surrogacy, will he push for tax breaks there?
So much to discuss. More news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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TOP NEWS
Amazon CEO denies using RTO to cut staff
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denied that the company’s upcoming five-day return to office plan is a sneaky way to reduce headcount during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday. Nearly three-quarters of Amazon employees surveyed after the announcement said they considered quitting because of it. Fortune
CEOs line up to congratulate Trump
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Apple CEO Tim Cook were among the corporate leaders who congratulated Donald Trump for his election win on X yesterday. A large portion of the well-wishers expressed excitement about working with the Trump campaign. Fortune
Markets downplay Trump’s economic policies
In other election news, economists appear convinced that the most extreme of Trump’s economic policies won’t be enforced as strictly, or quickly, as his campaign promised. Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS, said “markets appear to assume that the campaign rhetoric (specifically around deportations and tariffs) will not fully translate into policy” in an audio note to clients. Fortune.
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
American interest in moving abroad is about to ‘go into overdrive.’ These are the easiest countries to immigrate to by Alicia Adamczyk
Donald Trump will make a $400,000 salary as president. His shares in Trump Media could keep him rich to the tune of $8 billion by Jane Thier
Elon Musk is expected to join Trump’s administration. Here’s how the Tesla CEO’s political views align with the next president’s by Jenn Brice
Stocks to buy—and sell—now that Trump has won the election by Greg McKenna
An events company with 12,000 employees is hoping an ‘overtime savings program’ will boost retention by Brit Morse and Emma Burleigh
