What's Going On With Elon?

Elon Musk has been focusing exclusively on his private sector business interests over the last several months.

It is clear that his considerable talent are appreciated a lot more in that environment than in the public sector.

Unfortunately, the lesson learned with Elon's DOGE efforts is that it is an exercise in futility and frustration for any individual to attempt to reform the federal government's spending and bureaucracy.

If Elon could not do it, it is not possible for anyone else.

So what has Elon been up to now that he has given up his volunteer efforts with DOGE?

Tesla just sold more cars in the 3rd quarter, 2025 than Mercedes Benz.

Mercedes made its first car in 1901. Tesla started in 2004.

Tesla's stock market value is now $1.5 trillion.

That is greater than the rest of the auto industry combined..

It is important to understand that the value of Tesla today is not being driven by the sales of vehicles.

Investors are putting the most value on the autonomous driving technology, the fleet robotaxi potential, battery storage capability and the Optimus robot business that is within Tesla.

As a result of the increase in Tesla's value Elon Musk is now worth over $500 billion.

That is a very large number but it is still less than the estimated $600 billion (in today's dollars) in net worth that John D. Rockefeller had at the height of his oil empire in 1913. 

Tesla also just unveiled new and more affordable Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in its lineup.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/07/cars/tesla-model-y-3-cheaper-evs

The 2026 Tesla Model 3 Standard has a sticker price of $36,990.

Of note, Musk is delivering this EV at 22% below the inflation-adjusted price of $35,000 for this car that he promised 10 years ago when it was first introduced.

In addition, Elon's SpaceX has launched over 2,000 Starlink satellites this year .

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/

There are now over 8,500 working Starlink satellites in orbit.

And SpaceX is preparing for its 11th Starship launch this evening in its latest test for a spacecraft that could one day be capable of taking us back to the moon and on to Mars.

Link: https://x.com/cb_doge/status/1976463881183821860

The United States would not have a space program today without the efforts of Elon Musk.

Elon's X (formerly Twitter) is now being recognized by many as the #1 source for news around the world.

X is the leading news app in 140 countries in the world.

Countries Where X is the leading News App
Source: https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1873917603019722790

In the United States, more than half of all people now state that their main source for news is social media.

54% state that they get their news from Facebook, X, TikTok podcasts and other social media sites.

Less than 50% rely on traditional media sites.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news

 X is the #1 news app in the U.S.

Elon Musk has transformed Twitter from a heavily influenced left-wing social media site to a platform that is more balanced and is also particularly suited for breaking news and allowing users to examine source materials directly.

Even those on CNN are admitting how large the influence that X has had on the news.

Link: https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1975913112067805192

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter the platform has gone from being heavily dominated to Democrats to a place that is just slightly inhabited by Republicans.

Some Democrats have gone to Blue Sky. However, X has over 5 times the reach that Blue Sky has.

21% of Americans are on X compared to 4% for Blue Sky and 8% on Threads.

X is the dominant player in the social media news space by far.

Link: https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1975913112067805192

Musk has been responsible for a major transformation in X since he stood up for free speech and paid $44 billion for Twitter just three years ago.

I almost never look at mainstream news sources any more.

Almost all my news comes from X as it is more current, more varied, I am exposed to opinions from both the Left and Right and I can easily find source materials for more details and context.

Elon may not have been allowed to have an impact on controlling waste and fraud in the federal government.

However, he continues to have an outsized impact on transforming our world like no one else.