Elon Musk already tanked Tesla, and SpaceX could be next

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, runs like six companies. It’s a funny thing, given that even before his DOGE hatchet job to the government, he spent all day on X spouting off. But he did find time to make disastrous decisions like greenlighting the Cybertruck and getting rid of all steering wheel stalks in his cars—all problems for Tesla even before he outed himself as a Nazi. 

Since its Dec. 17, 2024 high of almost $480, the stock is down around 45%, down to $263 as of Friday’s close. Given how much of Musk’s net worth is tied to Tesla, that has shaved $121 billion from his high of $464 billion. Unfortunately, he has plenty of money left over to continue his supervillain quest to destroy the world. 

But he sure is trying his darndest to kill his other companies. 

Over the weekend, following the lead of the Trump administration, he threatened Ukraine with pulling its access to Starlink—the SpaceX internet service powered by a constellation of satellites, that has given Ukraine the ability to closely coordinate combat activities in the country’s front lines. 

“I literally challenged Putin to one on one physical combat over Ukraine and my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off,” he tweeted. Nice Starlink you have there. Sure would be a shame if something happened to it. 

This infuriated Europeans like Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who tweeted, “Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year. The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.”

Classy as ever, Musk responded, “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was just as much of an asshole, tweeting, “No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. And say thank you because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”

Again, Poland pays for Starlink. The only “thank you” should be from Starlink, for having a $50 million account with the Poles. 

To be very clear, Starlink isn’t charity for Ukraine. Every terminal is paid for because it’s a business transaction. But just like Europeans are ditching American arms manufacturers now that the U.S. is an unreliable partner, it has also spurred them to legitimately find an alternative to Starlink. While the EU’s IRIS2 system isn’t scheduled to be operational until 2030, Musk’s shenanigans are already spurring talk about speeding up that timetable. Europe no longer faces a single foe from the east. The United States is now actively belligerent to its west. 

Musk is right that nothing matches Starlink’s current capabilities, but he’s just done everything possible to destroy his international business. 

Italy was about to ink a deal to spend $1.6 billion for its own Starlink network. After threatening Ukraine with the loss of the service, that deal is now seemingly dead. A desperate Musk is now begging Italian President Sergio Mattarella for a meeting to salvage the deal. How do we know he’s desperate? Look what he tweeted: 

“It would be an honor to speak with President Mattarella.”

Quite the far cry from “be quiet, small man.” Musk may not care about a $50 million Polish contract, but oh, now he would be so “honored” to meet with the Italians given a $1.6 billion deal has been pulled. 

Believe it or not, this isn’t the biggest Starlink deal SpaceX has lost due to Musk’s antics. 

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is head of América Móvil, a massive mobile network provider in Latin America. In late January, a large right-wing X account tweeted that Slim “is known to have significant ties to the drug cartels in Mexico. You don’t become a billionaire in Mexico without being part of the network that is controlled and protected.” Musk approvingly retweeted it.

Five minutes later, Slim cancelled a Starlink contract worth $7.5 billion, and an hour later, announced a new $22 billion investment in both European and Chinese providers to build a Starlink-like replacement. 

The board of directors at Musk’s companies are filled with his family members, friends, and cronies. But at what point do they see the damage he’s doing to the companies and decide enough is enough. 

Will $9 billion in lost contracts for SpaceX spur some kind of reaction from its board? Given that Tesla losing hundreds of billions of market cap hasn’t moved Tesla’s board to act, no one should hold their breath. 

But his antics are taking a toll on his own net worth, and while he’ll always have plenty of money for his evil deeds, the more his companies suffer, the greater the chance he might, at some point, suffer some consequences.