Elon Musk’s clash with President Donald Trump appears to have backfired on him. The 53-year-old, who accused the president of being ungrateful, lost $15 billion on Thursday, and his company Tesla’s shares tumbled as much as 9% during trading hours. According to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, Musk is worth $399.5 billion, down 3.63%.
Tesla slumped 8.9% amid Musk’s criticism of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’. This comes after the president lashed out at his former ally on Thursday, saying he was ‘disappointed’ by the billionaire’s opposition to the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill that is at the heart of his administration’s agenda.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore. He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m, I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Musk unleashed a series of responses on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
Read More: ‘Such ingratitude’: Elon Musk claims Trump would’ve lost election without him
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” he wrote. “Such ingratitude.”
The Tesla CEO also used the president’s own words against him. He retweeted the 78-year-old’s part criticisms about raising the debt ceiling.
In a 2013 tweet, Trump wrote, ” I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!”
“Wise words,” Musk commented on the post.
Read More: ‘Disgusting’: Why Elon Musk attacked Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ bill
‘Easiest way to save money is to terminate Musk’s contracts’: Trump
In his latest attack on Musk, Trump said that he is terminating the tech billionaire’s subsidies and contracts.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“Elon was “wearing thin,” I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” he added.
