Elon Musk’s $450 Million Midterm Gamble Backfires, Eroding $24.8 Billion Fortune Overnight
So, Elon Musk might be the untouchable titan of trillion-dollar dreams, but even the richest man on this spinning rock isn’t immune to a little financial ouch—especially when betting on U.S. midterm elections. Now, imagine placing a colossal wager on the Red wave only to watch the Democrats crash the party, snag both the Senate and House, and topple traditions in Texas, where Republicans thought they held the fort. Yep, that heart-stopping $474 million bet didn’t exactly pay off, and with Tesla and SpaceX shares sliding, Elon’s net worth took a $24.8 billion hit—ouch again. It makes you wonder, can even a billionaire who jokes about “election-interfering space lasers” dodge the cosmic irony of politics and portfolio chaos? Well, he’s still a gazillionaire by our standards, but hey, betting against the universe might just be the ultimate long shot.
Elon Musk will probably be the richest man in the world until the day he dies but his net worth has just taken a significant hit following a bet on the midterm elections in the US.
Despite a public fall out with president Trump after his brief time working in his government, the Tesla founder was staunch in his support for the 80-year-old ahead of this week’s midterms.
However, the Democrats have now claimed a momentous victory, winning both the US Senate and House of Representatives, which means that they will take control of Congress for the remainder of Donald Trump‘s presidency.
This is bad news for MAGA supporters such as Musk, who had placed an eye-watering bet on the Red side claiming an overall victory, while he also backed the traditionally Republican state of Texas to remain that way.
As we now know, the Democrats claimed victory in the Lone Star state for the first time since 1988, with James Talarico ousting Ken Paxton, while Gina Hinojosa surprisingly beat Greg Abbott for the Texas governor’s mansion, and it’s going to cost Musk at least around $474 million in bets.
But that’s not all, as he’s also suffered on the New York Stock Exchange, which revealed this morning that Tesla shares are down 2.59 per cent and SpaceX shares are down 2.06 in trading.
Although that might not sound too much, it’s enough to put a $24.8 billion dent in his net worth at the time of writing.
Donald Trumps’s Republicans were trounced in the elections (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Since he’s not too far off being a trillionaire these days, having reached that shocking amount of money in the past, this ridiculous sum is probably just a drop in the ocean for the 55-year-old. Don’t worry, he’s still worth well over $800 billion.
He’s also responded following the shock election results, taking to his own social media website to write: “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time” along with a shrug emoji. He also posted, “Data centres in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
This seems to be a joke, following online conspiracy theories that Musk had used his Starlink satellite network to somehow manipulate vote totals during Trump’s 2024 election victory. This was, of course, debunked.
Musk and Trump seem to be pals again after their prior fall-out (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
It’s not the only financial loss the South African born businessman has suffered this year as he also lost his trillionaire status after just two weeks, when Tesla and SpaceX shares both suffered a drop in value.
Forbes also places his current net worth at a measly $900 billion, which is still over $500 billion more than his closest competitor – the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
It just goes to show that betting is a mug’s game, but if Musk fancies also betting his entire net worth against mine in a one-on-one race, then he’d better warm up his hamstrings.
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