Since the election Musk has added an estimated US$54 billion (NZ$93.5 billion) to his net worth. Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
By Isabella Higgins, ABC
Elon Musk is the world's richest man and his new proximity to the White House is, for now, making him even wealthier and more powerful.
The tech tycoon is believed to have added more than US$54 billion (NZ$93.5 billion) to his net worth since the 5 November election, according to estimates from Forbes magazine.
The wealth injection came largely from a surge in the stock price of his companies Tesla and SpaceX after the re-election of Donald Trump.
"Mr Musk has made quite the bet by investing millions of dollars in the Trump campaign," Matt Mittelsteadt said, a research fellow at the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University.
"Now that Mr Trump has been elected, I think that bet is very much paying off."
In the months leading up to the election, Musk became one of Trump's most visible supporters, attending events with him, promoting him on his social media platform, X, and donating millions to his campaign.
"On one hand, it's simply a savvy business move for Musk," Steven Livingston said, from George Washington University, but he believes there is more to this political partnership.
"I suspect Elon Musk finds Donald Trump to be an appealing figure. They are both, one could say, reflections of what sometimes we would call the manosphere.
"It's what others call toxic masculinity, this macho kind of behaviour, an unguarded, bad boy kind of image."
The foreign-born billionaire has now found a place in the president-elect's inner-circle.
On election night, Trump dedicated four minutes of his half-an-hour-long victory speech to praising the entrepreneur.
"Oh, let me tell you we have a new star: Elon... he's a genius. We need to protect our geniuses," the Republican told a rapturous crowd in Palm Beach.
Behind-the-scenes footage posted on YouTube showed the Tesla chief executive with Trump's closest family and friends at the Mar-a-Lago estate after polls closed.
Mar-a-Lago is Trump's sprawling Florida home, which doubles as a private members club.
"We have to get Elon," Trump instructed a photographer as they all posed for family photos on the historic night.
As Trump began to assemble his new team, US media reported Musk was still by his side at Mar-a-Lago, joining him on calls and helping him with his transition.
"He's really ingratiated himself with Donald Trump, now," Mittelsteadt said.
"The result of this, I think the sky's the limit for him."
Trump announced Musk would lead an advisory committee focused on reducing US spending. Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
Musk's 'slash and burn' approach comes to Washington
The billionaire jokingly referred to himself on social media as the "the first buddy", but now it is clear he will have at least one formal role in the Trump administration.
The president-elect announced Musk would lead an advisory committee focused on reducing US spending dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, to be known as DOGE.
DOGE is also the name of a cryptocurrency Elon Musk has bought and frequently promoted.
He will take on this role alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, another businessman and one-time Republican Party presidential nominee candidate.
"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures," Trump said in a statement.
The DOGE project will be able to advise the president, but analysts are sceptical about how much change the project can initiate as major decisions about spending and budget cuts will still need to be passed by US congress.
Musk had joked about the leading the DOGE in the lead-up to the election and even claimed he could cut US$2 trillion from the US budget.
There are many questions about how a Silicon Valley chief executive will tackle the federal bureaucracy.
"If you look at his approach to Twitter, his most recently acquired company, now, X, his approach overall was slash and burn," Mittelsteadt said.
"He came in, he looked at the business and he fired a significant chunk of the employees trying to keep, in his view, only the employees and engineers who are most committed to his vision and an efficiency-driven approach."
A former Republican digital strategist warned Musk would be in for a steep learning curve.
"Washington can be a pretty frustrating place, particularly for people who have not spent a lot of time here," head of Hadron StrategiesTyler Brown said.
"We have a lot of checks and balances that are put into our government system and, beyond that, there is a large bureaucracy."
The tech billionaire wrote on X: "Either we get government efficient, or America goes bankrupt. That's what it comes down to. Wish I were wrong, but it's true."
"Trump tried to take on the federal bureaucracy in his first term. I think partially because his team weren't really familiar in how all that worked, they weren't as successful in making the changes they wanted," Brown said.
Trump wrote that the work of the DOGE would conclude by 4 July 2026, but Musk wrote online: "It'll be done much faster."
"He's going to have to convince 60 senators and the House of Representatives to make any of the big recommendations he wants to make," Mittelsteadt said.
"If he wants to undo an agency, for example, and get rid of its entire budget, Congress is the only body that has the authority to do that.
"I think that's going to be a huge stonewall for any of the huge ambitions that he wants to carry out."
Beyond his role at the DOGE, there are questions about just how much power Musk will have over the incoming president.
"He clearly has a lot of influence in the incoming Trump administration already. Apparently, he's on calls with foreign leaders, a new department has been created, and they've been seen golfing together," Mittelsteadt said.
Analysts have pointed out the many possible conflicts of interest for Musk.
Even before Trump's appointment, his companies held billions of dollars' worth of government contracts, particularly SpaceX, which is working closely with NASA.
His companies have also been the subject of multiple reviews and investigations by federal regulators.
"This level of influence, there's plenty of room for corruption, there's plenty of room for malfeasance, and there's plenty of room for this private-sector individual to twist the government and its many regulations and investments to service him and his personal goals," Mittelsteadt said.
Trump's tariffs agenda could 'drive a wedge' with Musk
Other political watchers have speculated the two major personalities could eventually lose favour with each other, when their interests no longer align.
"If you're used to being an entrepreneur or somebody that has the ability to direct where your company is going to go, it can be really frustrating work in government," Brown said.
"It'll be interesting to see how long [Elon Musk] wants to remain committed, but he certainly has the president's ear."
One of the incoming president's pledges was to impose higher tariffs on foreign goods coming into the US, particularly on items from China.
Washington observers believe this could become an issue between Musk and Trump.
"Now, tariffs, from a business perspective and from Elon Musk's perspective, are actually a pretty terrible thing," Mittelsteadt said.
"Under the previous Trump administration, Donald Trump raised tariffs on steel. Steel is heavily used by Elon Musk, Teslas are made out of steel, and so as a result of that policy, his ability to operate his business was directly affected.
"If Elon has, a huge say over this process, this could actually work in his favour to try and carve out some tariffs that maybe benefit him and hurt his competitors.
"Or this could be the thing that brings these two to blows."
- ABC
