Elon Musk was interviewed Tuesday by Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. The wide-ranging conversation spanned the multibillionaire’s work on behalf of President Donald Trump and at his “Department of Government Efficiency,” protests against Tesla and a careful assertion that he might wind down his political contributions. The chat turned tense at times, with Musk becoming visibly upset while discussing demonstrators who vandalized Tesla showrooms and how “DOGE” has vastly undershot its promised savings. In this week’s Elon, Inc., David Papadopoulos and Max Chafkin dissect some notable moments from the interview.

Also on the show, Max goes through the wild week of xAI’s chatbot Grok. First off, the artificial companion spent an entire day talking about “White genocide” in clearly irrelevant responses to unrelated queries. The company then managed to strike a deal with prediction betting site Kalshi and finally ended up in the cloud of arch-nemesis Microsoft. Max has a lot of explaining to do.

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Elon Musk was just interviewed by Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain at the Qatar Economic Forum. It was a sometimes tense exchange that covered everything from DOGE savings, via Tesla protestors, to Elon’s plans to wind down his political contributions. Today’s episode of Elon, Inc. will break down the interview and analyze highlights but for now, you can listen to the whole 40 minutes here.

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Where’s the inflation? With this week’s Consumer Price Index coming in softer than predicted (inflation at its lowest level since 2021, according to government data), a lot of people are wondering why tariffs haven’t pushed prices up. In the debut episode of Everybody’s Business from Bloomberg Businessweek, hosts Stacey Vanek Smith and Max Chafkin tackle President Donald Trump’s trade war, inflation and when the rubber will (if ever) hit the road.

Consumer spending columnist Amanda Mull takes Stacey on a tariff tour through Target, explaining why import taxes have yet to show up in inflation data and how you’re likely to see them in the future. It turns out flatscreen TVs, pineapples and mascara will all manifest tariffs in different ways. Mull concludes tariffs could very well ruin Christmas.

Then sports reporter Randall WIlliams joins to talk about why private equity has started buying up sports teams. It turns out teams are becoming more valuable as games dominate live television, attracting bigger audiences (and commanding higher ad rates). That’s got private equity sneaking into the game, pumping up prices and injecting billions of dollars into teams. Randall concludes that private equity won’t ruin sports (but Max and Stacey are skeptical). Finally, for the underrated story for the week, we look at the rising trend of rising sneaker soles. Shoe brands are creating ever puffier soles even as racing authorities try to put restrictions in place. Ultramarathoner Max realizes his beloved sport is in the crosshairs of controversy.

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In this week’s episode of Elon, Inc., host Max Chafkin and Bloomberg Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull sit down with Matthew LaBrot, a former Tesla sales manager who made headlines last week following his departure from the company. LaBrot was the man behind the “Tesla Employees Against Elon” website, which consisted of an open letter from an initially anonymous LaBrot criticizing the company’s multibillionaire CEO. He suggested Tesla would be better off continuing its mission without the South Africa native, his antics and the headlines that follow in his wake. Despite recent reports of the company board also having second thoughts about Musk’s performance as CEO, the company seemingly didn’t agree, and took swift action.

On the podcast, LaBrot outlines why he decided to write the letter, how he came to part ways with the company and how Tesla employees handle, or willfully ignore, “the elephant in the room.” As a former sales manager, LaBrot also spells out the internal struggles of the company as sales started plummeting in tandem with Musk’s far-right turn and association with President Donald Trump.

Hull and Chafkin also go through a list of additional Musk news from the week. These include a spat with Bill Gates, some good news for the Boring company and the latest example of cross-pollination in the Musk empire: Tesla hardware powering xAI’s supercomputer.

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This week on Everybody’s Business, Max and Stacey explore the future of friendship. With OpenAI and Meta ramping up efforts to give chatbots personalities and emotional intelligence, the hosts ask: could an AI ever truly be your friend? And will this lead to the downfall of humanity? Reporter Sarah Frier joins the conversation.

Then, Lights, Camera... Tariffs? President Trump wants to slap massive new taxes on films shot overseas, arguing it’s a national security issue. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw stops by to explain what this could mean for the movie industry, how real the threat is, and what this might mean for the movie industry.

Finally, for the underreported story of the week, Max and Stacey attempt to untangle an international crypto story. It’s a wild tale of geopolitics, digital cash, and the ever-expanding business of influence.

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It’s no secret that Elon Musk isn’t a big fan of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He and his companies have been the subject of a plethora of investigations and regulatory scrutiny over the years (who can forget the infamous words “funding secured”?), and there’s currently a probe of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter shares. But only recently have Musk’s minions begun to ramp up their efforts to shrink the SEC. And while the “Department of Government Efficiency” has hugely missed the mark in terms of how much Musk claimed it would cut, hobbling the SEC could have profound consequences for Musk’s fortune. On this week’s episode of Elon, Inc., host David Papadopoulos is joined by Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer Max Chafkin, Bloomberg Elon Musk reporter Dana Hull and SEC reporter Nicola White to discuss Musk’s run-ins with the agency and what we can possibly expect from DOGE’s doings.

Speaking of eyebrow raising—Musk just scored a big victory in Texas when residents of the small community near SpaceX’s rocket launch site voted to officially incorporate the area as “Starbase.” Bloomberg legal reporter Madlin Mekelburg joins the gang to discuss.

To end things, Chafkin has spotted a brewing feud in Musk’s world. No, it’s not the Tesla CEO vs. the Tesla board, it’s Elon Musk vs. his neighbors—and this spat has it all.

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In the fifth (top secret) episode of Bloomberg Businessweek’s new podcast Everybody’s Business, hosts Max Chafkin and Stacey Vanek Smith look the first 104 days of the Trump administration--particularly the last 4. Businessweek editor Brad Stone joins to discuss Amazon's face-off with Trump, the GDP's downturn and the resignation of Mike Waltz.

Then David Papadopoulos joins from the sidelines of the Kentucky Derby, where he explains why betting on the races is softening and why retirement is often more lucrative for horses than running (and what a retirement it is!).

Finally, as the underrated story of the week, Stacey and Max discuss the rise of new media in the White House press corp, including one influencer who famously thought the moon had disappeared after she didn't see it for several days.

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Today marks the 100th day of the second Trump administration. It also means it’s been about 100 days since Elon Musk transformed the US Digital Service into what he and Trump contend is a government cost-cutting initiative named after Musk’s favorite crypto coin. With the Trump news cycle more intense than ever and Musk the fastest moving part of it, today’s episode of Elon, Inc. attempts to make sense of the past three-and-a-half months.

What we do know is that the “Department of Government Efficiency” has only cut a fraction of the $2 trillion Musk initially promised, and that the South Africa native’s pledge of full transparency has come to nearly naught. Meanwhile, the entire effort is the subject of furious litigation over its arguably unconstitutional nature. Host David Papadopoulos gathers Max Chafkin, Dana Hull and Bloomberg technology reporter Kurt Wagner to break down Musk’s activities as his 130 days as a special government employee nears a close. What has been Musk’s biggest win? Biggest loss? What event has been the most surprising or under reported? The gang has its work cut out for them.

Also, David, Dana and Max zero in on the robotaxi. Supposedly launching in Austin, Texas, in June, much of Tesla’s still-high valuation is bound up with Musk’s idea of a self-driving cab, and a lot of time was dedicated to it during last week’s Tesla earnings call. After years of promises, will the robotaxi actually see the light of day? How big of a fleet are we talking about? Will it survive an already crowded market?

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