Over 36 staff and associates of Tesla’s Elon Musk and fellow tech titans got federal roles that oversee their companies

36 people

5/16/25

This year more than 36 staff and associates of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as well as Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Palmer Luckey have been appointed to government roles at agencies, putting them “in departments that oversee, regulate and award business to the four men’s companies,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

Yesterday, ProPublica reported that President Trump’s State Department had been pressuring other countries to approve another of Musk’s businesses, SpaceX’s Starlink.

Before Musk took his extragovernmental position at DOGE, leaders of companies he competes with, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, said they didn’t think Musk would use his position to advantage his own interests.

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Rani Molla

9/2/25

Google soars on court ruling that doesn’t force the search giant to sell Chrome

Google has $26 billion in deals with companies like Samsung and Apple.

Max Knoblauch

8/21/25

Hertz falls, erasing its Amazon bump, as Congress looks into its AI damage scanners

Hertz shares are trading down more than 5% on Thursday.

Max Knoblauch

8/20/25

Airbus faces a 10-day strike from UK workers, mirroring Boeing’s labor strife

Thousands of UK union Airbus workers plan to strike for 10 days in September amid a contract dispute.

The union workers build wings for Airbus’ commercial jets, threatening a production slowdown for the European plane maker.

As Airbus’ labor tension builds, rival Boeing’s has already boiled over: earlier this month, more than 3,000 Boeing workers who build military aircraft started a strike that remains ongoing. The action came less than a year after the company faced a two-month stoppage from a machinist strike.

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

Airbus UK workers to strike for 10 days over pay

Airbus, for now, says it doesn’t see the strikes affecting full-year deliveries.

Rani Molla

8/20/25

Elon Musk’s political party isn’t happening, as Tesla CEO gives up on the “America Party”

In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his own political party, the America Party — a move intended to “give you back your freedom.” What it did at the time was invoke the wrath of President Donald Trump and send the stock down.

A month and a half later, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Musk is “pumping the brakes” on his third party.

According to the Journal, “Musk has told allies that he wants to focus his attention on his companies and is reluctant to alienate powerful Republicans by starting a third party that could siphon off GOP voters.” He also wants to maintain ties with Vice President JD Vance, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for 2028.

What happened?

For one, earlier this month Tesla’s board approved a roughly $30 billion interim pay package that Musk will only realize if he remains at the company for two years.

The stock isn’t moving on the news so far, but investors and analysts typically see Musk’s focus on his public company as a good thing.

Exclusive | Elon Musk Pledged to Start a Political Party. He Is Already Pumping the Brakes.

What happened?

For one, earlier this month Tesla’s board approved a roughly $30 billion interim pay package that Musk will only realize if he remains at the company for two years.

The stock isn’t moving on the news so far, but investors and analysts typically see Musk’s focus on his public company as a good thing.

Nexstar, the US’s largest local TV broadcaster, is looking to get bigger with a $6.2 billion megamerger

TV broadcaster Nexstar plans to merge with smaller rival Tegna, testing the Trump administration’s consolidation appetite.

Max Knoblauch8/19/25

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