Love him or hate him, Elon Musk is impossible to ignore.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is the richest man in the world and has used this ownership of Twitter/X as a platform for his strident views.
Now an advisor to Donald Trump he’s heading up the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As Musk becomes increasingly vocal on issues in the UK, BusinessCloud asked: Is Elon Musk a force for good or a force for bad?
Nazi salutes
Consultant Alastair Jones said: “When someone is caught raising an arm and a clever camera shot makes it look like a Nazi salute, that’s embarrassing. But to do it twice with a look of hate on your face making sure the whole audience saw it. That is disturbing in the extreme. He is an unelected insider who is helping pass laws that give billionaires like him huge tax breaks while blaming USAid and DEI (a fraction of the budget for what has been given in tax breaks). That has to be bad right?
Reactive and reckless
Cassie Watson, head of product at Deploi, said: “No unelected official should be able to wield as much power as he can, especially not in countries he has no citizenship or jurisdiction in. He’s proven that he is petty, reactive and reckless – a simple example being the accusations he threw at the divers that rejected his support rescuing those children a few years ago. I think he is unnecessarily obsessed with anyone or anywhere that doesn’t bend to his will, and we should be afraid of this. He demonstrated this when he bought Twitter. “
Good and bad
NED, board director & advisor Alexandra Hatchman said: “Perhaps he’s both (good and bad) as he’s a man of enormous strengths and enormous weaknesses. Whilst I think he will leave a wonderful technology legacy on our world, I worry deeply about the human legacy that he and others who operate like him will leave behind.”
Self-interest
Ian Hutchings, founder and managing director of Vita Safety said: “What will be important in 25/50/100 years? Then reflect and see have they added value or not for mankind. I’d suggest they are not doing anything for the benefit of anyone apart from themselves or their interests.”
Bond villain
Strategic advisor John Shinnick said: “Bond villain without a cat.”
‘I deleted X account’
Pete Connor, director of Pure Fabs, said: “Ego bigger than Trump’s. Deleted my Twitter account because I was being sent absolute drivel, violence and anger on my feed (and no, I wasn’t feeding the troll, unless doom scrolling does that). He could do so much good, but I suspect the power money brings has affected him.”
Eye roll
Pete Mills, executive director of Crysp, said: “I think you need to read the Walter Isaacson book (on Elon Musk). Bullied beyond an inch of his life, undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, super IQ ..think we just need to roll our eyes.”
Hypocrite
Ruth Topham, senior finance director at ADI Global Distribution, said: “Used to be good, now really not. All of these things cancel out any good – Nazi salutes, rampant sexism, destabilisation of key institutions within one of the world’s largest democracies (which was part of how Hitler consolidated his power in the mid to late 1930’s).
He’s also a hypocrite – he made a lot of money off federal governments, and now that’s passed has turned to ripping them apart. He talks a lot about free speech and getting rid of ‘gender ideology’ whilst also promoting ideas that support a republic of alpha males. Can he spot and fund a disruptive investment opportunity? Yeah, but if he hadn’t invested in the things he has, someone else (someone with much less disdain for other humans) would have done it.”
Secret weapon
Dinah Turner, customer director at Skillsminer, said: “The impact of debating his tweets or dictats, on the efficiency of everyone else, everywhere else as they are talking about them or writing articles, is probably why he is a secret weapon.”
Force for change
Fractional CTO John Knott said: “He’s certainly a force for change. Whether that change is good or bad is all based upon people’s perspective.”
Better than what we have
Thomas Gardner, founder Fireflai: “Better than anything we have now leading our tech strategy.”
Ruthless genius
Founder and director Guy Remond said: “In short, he is a genius who has changed the world for the better in many ways: automotive, energy, AI, space, travel, etc. He is also ruthless and single-minded, but maybe you have to be like that to achieve what he has achieved.”
Creates drama
Voytek Bratnikow, COO of Boshhh Group, said: “If Elon truly cared about Europe or the UK, he’d focus on generating a positive vibe around his products and businesses. Instead, the only thing he seems to care about is creating drama, which ends up on X/Twitter as posts filled with far-right arguments, the perfect recipe for even more drama and replies. Right now, all I see is a major fallout of Elon.”
Force for good
CEO Craig Brennan said: “Absolutely a force for good. We need the same in the UK. That said, an oversight committee wouldn’t go a miss.”
Media is key
Julie Brook, regional director, The Marketing Centre, said: “My two house guests this weekend from Colorado have much support for Elon and his cost-reducing DOGE. I just wonder how much we are all being negatively influenced by the media and people that find tough decisions unsavoury.”
Appalling man
Simon Middleton said: “There is no rational defence of the appalling man. He’s a danger to us all now, with the power he has been given to wield.”
Bad x2
Fractional CMO/CRO Andy Hamer said: “Bad x2.” Meanwhile Chris Walker said: “Elon is only a force for one thing…..Elon.”
Chancer
Mark Haynes: “Not sure he’s any sort of ‘force’. Pushy, maybe. A chancer for sure. Feels like he is on another path … footstepping Trump but, to a different beat. He tells no story. He hides his heart. The child occasionally erupts, and quickly dies down. As if each ‘noise’ is a test on mere mortals. He will last. He will not endure.”
Problematic
Head of growth Colin Shakespeare said: “He seems to be as erratic and thin-skinned as Trump. Whether he means well or not – which is debatable – having such a character, and so much concentration of wealth, so close to the centre of power is problematic. Then again, so is a woefully inefficient bureaucracy in a government that spends $2 trillion more than it makes every year.”
Hidden agenda
David Reay, chair at Northern Clothing and Textile Network, said: “To me it’s quite simple. Trump is delivering what the US population voted for with a sizeable majority. He has installed Musk and many other disgraceful individuals to do that. Two things concern me. What is the hidden agenda? Will the US population recover from what they have chosen in the long run?”
Farage is his puppet
Pastor Graham Owen said: “Elon Musk is a force for Elon Musk and as such is bad. It also looks like he has found a puppet called Farage to do his bidding.”
Clear and present danger
Rachel Wilks said: “He is obsessed with power, not the UK. He represents a clear and present danger to democracies around the world.”