Episodes

  • Optimus is More Human than it Looks But SpaceX Nails the Landing
    Oct 15 2024

    In the wake of his disappointing “robotaxi” launch and Wall Street’s punishing response, Elon Musk had at least one reason to celebrate this past week: the successful deployment of a complicated rocket retrieval system. But that doesn’t mean we are done picking through the Robotaxi unveiling and how the Optimus robots weren’t really “robots.” To unpack these events, we have reporters Loren Grush and Dana Hull as well as Bloomberg Television correspondent Ed Ludlow. Then we feature reporter Kurt Wagner interviewing Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, co-authors of the recently published book, Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter.

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    33 mins
  • The Robotaxi Verdict Is In
    Oct 11 2024

    It was a late night for Tesla fans, investors and journalists as the much-discussed unveiling of Elon Musk’s “cybercab” (or is it “robotaxi?”) was significantly delayed from its scheduled 10 pm ET start. And while the aesthetics of the vehicle got some rave reviews, details on production of a new wave of autonomous vehicles—let alone their potential deployment—were scant.

    To get a quick round-up of thoughts, David Papadopoulos jumped into the studio with Bloomberg editor Craig Trudell to discuss.

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    15 mins
  • Elon Bets Big on Trump and the Robotaxi
    Oct 8 2024

    This week was supposed to be all about Thursday’s big Tesla unveiling—but Elon Musk jumped (literally) on stage with his new best friend, Donald Trump, prompting all sorts of memes in a week when he may have revealed his real motivation for backing a convicted felon for president. On this episode of Elon, Inc., we preview what people can expect in a Robotaxi with Dana, Max and Bloomberg editor Craig Trudell, and dig into Musk’s rebirth as a Republican megadonor with a special guest—journalist Jacob Silverman, who is working on a book about tech’s move to the right.

    And there’s BINGO! We have made Robotaxi bingo cards for people following along at home, with words we think Musk will say during the event. Go to https://www.bloomberg.com/eloninc for some of the cards to print out.

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    36 mins
  • 'Remigration' Takes Flight on X, The Story of ElonJet
    Oct 1 2024

    As we’ve previously discussed here on Elon, Inc., the billionaire’s posts on X have grown more and more political—and right wing—over time. This week, we have Bloomberg’s Jonathan Tirone with us to discuss how Elon Musk, and his platform, have brought the once-obscure, White nationalist term “remigration” back into US politics. Then, tech reporter Kurt Wagner talks to Jack Sweeney, the young man who made a flight tracking service Musk personally de-platformed. Plus: Tesla seems poised to uncork some good news about its sale numbers in front of next week’s big Robotaxi event.

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    37 mins
  • An Incomplete Guide to Elon’s Feuds
    Sep 24 2024

    Feuds. Can’t beat ‘em, can’t stop ‘em. At Elon, Inc., we’ve long covered Elon Musk’s penchant for a public feud at the end of episodes, but today feuds take center stage. David and Max talk to Bloomberg emerging markets reporter Julia Leite, who is based in Brazil, about Musk’s evolving legal situation there. Then Dana joins to talk about the Cybertruck situation in Chechnya.

    We can't help ourselves. There's two extra feuds, both related to land-use disputes. First, the party game Cards Against Humanity is suing SpaceX for allegedly trespassing on a swath of land that the company bought in 2017. Secondly, in the ongoing feud between prominent venture capitalist and Democrat donor Vinod Khosla, there has been a new chapter. In the course of trading insults on X, Musk mocked Khosla for a previous fight Khosla had had about beach access, and Khosla has asked him to apologize.

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    31 mins
  • Elon Tests Limits of Free Speech while SpaceX Racks Up the Wins
    Sep 17 2024

    As we chronicle every week on Elon, Inc., Elon Musk contains multitudes. He leads six companies, runs his own social-media platform and is now explicitly working to re-elect Donald Trump as president. This week, we talk about two very different kinds of Musk stories. One is about his behavior on X, and the rare tweet he took down. The other is about how his space company, SpaceX, is having a great run of late, with a successful space walk and a new deal with United Airlines.

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    31 mins
  • Inside Musk's Plans for Mars, What's Going On with Tesla and xAI
    Sep 10 2024

    Does Elon Musk consider all of his companies to be one giant company? That’s something that comes up in today’s episode as host David, Dana and Max consider a recent report on Tesla potentially giving up future revenue in exchange for access to Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI access. That brings up corporate governance issues.

    And then, Dana speaks to New York Times reporter Kirsten Grind about a story she wrote on Musk’s plans regarding Mars.

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    37 mins
  • Musk See TV
    Sep 3 2024

    After months of back and forth, Brazil finally did what it’s been threatening to do: ban X. This comes on the heels of government complaints from Britain and elsewhere about false information thriving on Elon Musk’s embattled social media platform—some of it from Musk himself. In this episode of Elon, Inc., we dig into Brazil’s action and also talk about the Android app launch of X TV, a way to watch video content from the former Twitter on your home TV screen. Our panel—David Papadopoulos, Max Chafkin and Kurt Wagner—have some ideas.

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    25 mins