Elon Musk’s Trump bump keeps growing

• Elon Musk’s businesses are thriving from his relationship with Trump, boosting his net worth.
• Musk’s AI startup xAI is raising $5 billion, while SpaceX plans a share tender offer, the FT reported.
• Musk is joining Trump’s administration to lead a new department focused on government efficiency.

Elon Musk’s businesses are booming and that appears to be at least in part the result of his deepening relationship to the now president-elect, Donald Trump.

Musk’s AI startup xAI is now raising $5 billion in funding, the Financial Times reported. And SpaceX plans a tender offer to sell existing shares at about $135 each next month.

Fundraising discussions for xAI began in October as Musk grew more vocal about his support for Trump, and the billionaire has only gotten closer to the president-elect since.

Their camaraderie has also boosted shares in Tesla and helped Musk’s net worth break the $300 billion threshold — $40 billion shy of his 2021 record of $340 billion. A few days after the election was called in favor of Trump, the EV maker hit a $1 trillion market cap for the first time since 2022.

Musk endorsed Trump in July and funneled tens of millions of dollars into his campaign, helping the former president upset Vice President Kamala Harris.

Musk’s relationship with Trump has since strengthened further. Trump said this week that Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy would work to “dismantle the Government Bureaucracy” and curb federal spending.

Musk is also becoming more involved with the Trump family. Trump’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, said Musk was “achieving uncle status” in an X post on Sunday.