Elon Musk's Wild Ride: From DOGE Drama to Tesla Turmoil

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, had a year filled with ups and downs. Shareholders at Tesla recently approved a massive stock bonus worth a whopping 1, 000 billion dollars to keep Musk as CEO for another 7. 5 years. This move has sparked outrage among shareholders who feel Musk already has too much control over the company. Musk's lifestyle is quite unusual for someone with his wealth. He doesn't own a home and often sleeps in his office. Despite his claims of not caring about possessions, his net worth is staggering. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Musk's fortune is around 460. 6 billion dollars. If SpaceX goes public as planned, his stake in the company could be worth over 625 billion dollars. The year started with Musk leading DOGE, a government advisory body aimed at cutting spending. DOGE was set up to reduce bureaucracy and improve government efficiency. Musk made bold claims about uncovering fraud, but many of these accusations were baseless. The program led to the layoff of 280, 000 civil servants, causing significant disruptions in various government agencies.Musk's involvement in DOGE took a toll on his other ventures. Tesla drivers became increasingly annoyed with his behavior, especially after he publicly supported a far-right political party in Germany. This led to boycotts, vandalism, and a drop in Tesla sales, particularly in the Netherlands. Musk's relationship with President Trump also soured. After criticizing Trump's tax cut plans, Musk left DOGE and publicly clashed with the president. He even suggested that Trump's name appeared in Jeffrey Epstein's files, a controversial figure accused of trafficking underage girls. Musk also threatened to withdraw SpaceX's services for the U. S. government. In addition to his political and business drama, Musk faced setbacks with his AI company, OpenAI. He co-founded OpenAI but left after a disagreement. He later sued the company, arguing that it had strayed from its original principles. Musk even offered to buy OpenAI for nearly 100 billion dollars, but his offer was rejected. Musk's messaging platform, X, also faced challenges. The company was fined 120 million euros for misleading users about blue ticks. Musk reacted angrily, criticizing Europe in a series of tweets. Another setback came when Optimus, a humanoid robot, embarrassingly fell during a public event. Despite high expectations, the robot's performance was a letdown.