By Palladium
Last week’s spectacular, predictable and messy falling out between United States President Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk has riveted the world like no other subject in the past one year. Nothing compares to it. Now, seedy details of drug addiction and titillating mention in sex dossiers are flying around on Mr Musk’s social media platform inappropriately named X (formerly Twitter). The businessman reportedly spent about $250m to help get Mr Trump and a majority Republican congress elected. In return, in addition to heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) programme, juicy federal contracts have continued to flow into Mr Musk’s space and electric vehicle projects. Beyond the surface frills, it is clear that Mr Trump’s inner circle exasperated by the boisterousness and obtrusion of Mr Musk had won the day. It is not clear yet how the fight would go down, but there are precedents elsewhere where billionaire businessmen close to the seat of power became too big for their britches.
In China, Jack Ma, the founder of the e-commerce giant, Alibaba, also ran his mouth in 2020 against state-owned banks which he described as having ‘pawn-shop mentality’. The repercussions were swift and damaging, including the cancellation of his $34.5bn stock market flotation of his Ant Group fintech giant, and presaged a general crackdown on China’s tech industry. When Russia’s Vladimir Putin kick-started his fight against the Russian oligarchs in 2000 and 2001, most of whom rose into financial prominence under former president Boris Yeltsin, it quickly degenerated into a brutal struggle. First to be hit was Vladimir Gusinsky who built his wealth from scratch, including owning a television station that skewered Mr Putin. The president ran him out of town. Next was Mikhail Khodorkovsky who bought the state-owned oil giant Yukos for a pittance. In 2005, he was jailed for nine years and then forced out of Russia. Considering his irreverence and abuse, there are already talks of forcing Mr Musk back to South Africa. Would Mr Trump go whole hog?
