Tesla CEO Elon Musk wears a cap with the words “Gulf of America” as he attends a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Tesla stock climbed about 5% Friday after threats and insults between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump fueled a $152 billion rout for the company’s market cap a day earlier.
“I think the real story here is the investor base of Tesla literally doesn’t care about anything,” Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and CNBC PRO contributor, told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” Friday. “This is still a nothing matters stock.”
Analysts cited a Politico report that Trump had scheduled a call Friday with Musk to broker a truce. However, a senior White House official told NBC News Friday that Trump is “not interested” in a call with Musk.
“Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk for many reasons and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shares,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives in a note Friday morning. “We will be monitoring the situation closely today but we believe Tesla shares are way oversold on this news.”
Musk spent several days attacking the president’s signature tax and spending bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination,” after the Tesla chief’s tenure as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency came to an end last week.
The war of words between Musk and Trump erupted Thursday as Trump addressed Musk’s criticism directly.
Tesla 5-day stock chart.
“I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot,” Trump said, adding that Musk was upset about the exclusion of EV credits in the budget bill.
Musk reacted in real-time to the president’s jabs, and the tone escalated.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk posted on X. “Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
Musk later indicated that Trump should be impeached and claimed the president “is in the Epstein files,” referring to records pertaining to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has denied any involvement in Epstein’s criminal behavior, and Musk provided no evidence to back up the claim.
Trump took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to respond.
“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
Tesla shares slide throughout the public clash, closing down 14% and putting the company’s market cap below the $1 trillion benchmark.
