President Trump has threatened to cut the US government’s ties with Elon Musk’s businesses after the former “first buddy” fell out with the commander in chief.
As Musk began slashing away at what he called government waste with the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year, reports began emerging that the Tesla founder’s businesses had received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits through the years.
Nearly two-thirds of the money has been promised to Musk’s businesses in the past five years, the Washington Post reported.
Many reports suggest that the portion of Musk’s net worth that comes from government contracts and subsidies could be event higher.
Here is some of the funds Musk has received from federal and state agencies:
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- SpaceX has received $22 billion in federal spending, according to SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell. It operates the only US-based spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to the International Space Station.
- Dozen of contracts with NASA, the Defense Department and five other government agencies are set to pay Musk’s companies another $11.8 billion in the coming years
- Starlink secured $6 billion in federal contracts from 2022 to 2023, according to the federal government’s spending database
- Tesla has received more than $11 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state governments, according to WaPo’s analysis
- That includes $2.1 billion in federal funds to develop new EVs and batteries, according to the Good Jobs First advocacy group
- Since 2014, about a third of Tesla’s $36 billion in profits stem from selling federal and state regulatory credits to other automakers
- Tesla has also received nearly $800 million from the Energy and Treasury Departments since 2007