Elon Musk said he would form a new political party called the "America Party."

KEY POINTS

Elon Musk said he would form a new political party called the “America Party.”

Tesla shares fell Monday after Musk’s announcement.

Tesla shareholders have wanted Musk to stay away from politics, especially after his stint at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which many have said damaged the automaker’s brand.

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
      983·
      6 days ago

      And smart.

      But it turns out he basically steals the ideas of better people and takes all the credit. Truly a modern day Thomas Edison. But even worse.

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        431·
        6 days ago

        Well, I’ll give my own impression: I was never a fanboy, but I think his PR team did a good job making him seem vaguely non-threatening and focused on bringing the sci-fi ideas into reality. I remember rolling my eyes when he appeared in Iron Man 2, and the “Tony Stark” comparisons always seemed, to be charitable, aspirational. But then he started tweeting about that cave diver being a “pedo guy,” fired his PR people, and it quickly became obvious who he really was.

        Basically standard tech bro protocol. Appear neutral on politics and vaguely altruistic in motive, until they have so much money nobody can stop them from being their worst techno-fascist selves. (Altman seems next in line for this transition.)

        • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
          9·
          6 days ago

          spot on, i never liked him but for a good while there the only things i’d seen made me go “well he seems like the least bad rich asshole”

          imagine firing the PR team that pulled of a herculean feat like that

      • uuldika@lemmy.ml
        322·
        6 days ago

        I’ll admit to it.

        I used to think Tesla was based, since it paved the way for mass-market EVs to happen. I still think SpaceX is based because of the booster reuse and droneship recovery of Falcon 9, and the massive potential for Starship to make space massively cheaper, and Starlink for bringing Internet to rural areas/war zones like Ukraine (despite clouding the skies.)

        On a personal level I found him disgusting, and as a billionaire I think he’s the sickness at the core of our economy and society. The projects of his companies were genuinely useful, though.

        So yeah, in 2015 he would have been closer to the bottom of my list of most evil billionaires, whereas now he’s way at the top.

        • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
          7·
          6 days ago

          Yep same. For the longest time, honestly too long, he was cool and smart in my eyes. I have always loved space travel and craved a high tech, sustainable future. Not anymore. He killed much of that for me.

      • real_squids@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        111·
        6 days ago

        Exactly, did anyone here think non-fictional billionaires could ever be cool? After developing critical thinking skills that is.

    • nuko147@lemmy.world
      22·
      5 days ago

      I always hated him. Peak hate was when he sent a car in space, supported Trump and did the Nazi salutes.

    • Hubi@feddit.org
      9·
      6 days ago

      My claim to fame is that I disliked the guy from the very first time I saw him.

    • burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world
      6·
      6 days ago

      the problem was that the things he said he was good at are highly specialized and there was not much media attention when actual experts said he had zero idea what he was doing. it took him pretending to know how to do stuff most people can instantly recognize when done poorly, like video games or speaking in public

  • towerful@programming.dev
    61·
    6 days ago

    CEO loses investors $68 billion after $56 billion pay rise

    I wish I could survive my company losing money

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
      14·
      6 days ago

      i truly do not understand how shareholders think, why the fuck would you keep tesla stocks at this point? sell them and invest in that chinese electric moped company for fuck’s sake, infinitely more reliable

      • Azhad@lemmy.world
        51·
        5 days ago

        It’s very simple: his votes, plus his family votes and the fact that shares held in index and funds vote always like the boards direct and they have the vast majority and every “voting” is just a farce.

  • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
    39·
    6 days ago

    They should be seriously considering firing this fuck, by now. Everything he’s done for the last couple of years has cost his investors money.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
      31·
      6 days ago

      I’m happy to see the company go up in flames. Anyone still holding positions in TSLA deserves whatever happens.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
      14·
      6 days ago

      Hahahaha - have you seen “the board”? It’s several bought-and-paid-for dipshits and members of his family. He’ll make a good decision before they oust him.

      Not happening. Never (unless it’s part of a scam, then yeah sure why not. Gotta fleece the stooges).

    • magnetosphere@fedia.io
      3·
      6 days ago

      I just want him to shut up and go away. Being fired would just give him more attention, and something else to whine about.

      • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
        5·
        6 days ago

        It would also greatly diminish his financial holdings…which would knee-cap his ability to actively fuck with society.

      • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
        5·
        6 days ago

        Then Tesla’s investors should organize a class action suit against the board, for acting against their best interests.

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
          4·
          6 days ago

          Nope, they already approved a massive payday to Musk specifically. Please explain to me how rewarding ANYONE millions or billions of dollars is EVER a financially smart move. Yet they didn’t get in trouble for it.

          What you need to learn is that this country is ALREADY bought and paid for by the rich.

          • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
            4·
            6 days ago

            And yet, he’s costing the rich a ton of money by tanking the value of his stock. That should take precedence over whatever “the board” decided to give him. The investors are the priority in a capitalist system…not the board. The board’s job is to maximize investor returns. That’s all.

            • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
              1·
              5 days ago

              I agree that should be the case, but the US “justice” system and rich fucking morons in general have made it VERY clear they’re not interested in making logical decisions.

              Otherwise all those fucking idiots and elon himself should be hanging from the nearest tree for being the brainless cultists they are.

              • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
                11·
                5 days ago

                So you think rich people don’t care about losing money? I’m not sure you understand what I’m talking about.

  • ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online
    10·
    5 days ago

    Can we skip to the good part where is 100% bankrupt and no other billionaire bails him out and he ends up being arrested by a rookie cop doing his first drug arrest as Elon nearly ODs on illegal street ketamine and literally no one in the legal system cares when he is given a life sentence?

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      I’d settle for “dies a 90 hour non-instrument rated private pilot flying the Beech Debonair he just bought VFR into IMC by slamming into a hillside trying to fly under a 300 foot ceiling.”

      But he wouldn’t pass a 3rd class medical certificate, would he?

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
    192·
    6 days ago

    It coincides with a bunch of other stuff, like hints at Tesla regulation, tariffs, and regular wild swings just from being Tesla.

    Tesla is up 16% over 1 year, 185.44% over 5 years, beating the S&P 500. Not that I would ever hold Tesla, but still, it’s not like Musk’s wealth has evaporated.

    CNBC is basically the Fox News of finance world. Big, sensationalist and basically catering to day trader hype (not the longer term buy-and-hold crowd. You know, what the stock market is supposed to be). So maybe there’s some cause and affect here, but I don’t trust them on headlines like this.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 days ago

      CNBC loves to hate on anything Musk.

      They’re the ones who wrote a story about SpaceX polluting the area with high levels of mercury because of a conversion error / typo on the report.

      I’m too lazy to look up exact figures, but it basically went like this in the report. (Smaller is better)

      In 1 spot it said

      Mercury test 1: 0.01

      Mercury Test 2: 100

      Then in another spot talking about the same values it said

      Mercury Test 1: 0.01

      Mercury Test 2: 0.01

      I don’t think they ever retracted it, but the headlines were all SpaceX polluting massively over allowed thresholds kinda thing.

      The reporting was either so sloppy they didn’t read the whole report or cross reference anything and just ran with it, or they knew and said fuck it we can get the clicks and it’s technically in the report.