Tesla CEO Elon Musk wore a hat on April 30, 2025 when he attended a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.
Evelyn Hawkstan | Reuters
Tesla Stock climbed about 4% on Friday amid threats and insults between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, which fueled a $152 billion rout for the company's market cap.
Analysts listed a political report saying Trump has scheduled a truce with Musk on Friday. But a senior White House official told NBC News on Friday that Trump was "not interested" in the phone call with Musk.
"Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk, and both of these reasons are friends again, will be a huge relief for Tesla stock," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note Friday morning. "We will monitor the situation closely today, but we believe Tesla stock has surpassed this news."
Musk spent several days attacking the president’s signature tax and spending bill, calling it “annoyingly abominable”, and the Tesla chief’s term as head of the U.S. government’s efficiency department ended last week.
When Trump directly addressed Musk's criticism, a language war between Musk and Trump broke out.
Tesla's 5-day stock chart.
"I'm very disappointed with Elon. I've helped Elon a lot," Trump said, adding that Musk was upset about the EV credits in the budget bill.
Musk's tone escalated in real time when his piercing was reacting to the president.
Musk posted on X: "Without me, Trump will lose the election. Dems will control the House, and Republicans will be 51-49 in the Senate."
Musk later said Trump should be impeached, claiming the president was “in Epstein’s archives” referring to records related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes, and Musk provided no evidence to support the claim.
Trump brought his social media platform to his own social media platform, Truth Social, and responded.
"The easiest way to save our budget is to terminate Elon's government subsidies and contracts," Trump wrote. “I'm always surprised that Biden didn't do this! ”
Tesla shared the slide throughout the public conflict, down 14% and put the company's market cap below the $1 trillion benchmark.