Elon Musk’s gamble on Donald Trump pays off

“A star is born: Elon,” said Donald Trump in a lengthy shout out to his biggest donor while claiming victory in the US presidential race on Wednesday morning.  Trump’s win ushers in a new era for Musk—already the world’s richest person with a $260bn fortune—whose gamble on a knife-edge US election paid off as he is set to become one of the incoming president’s most influential political and business advisers. Musk’s promised role as head of a new Department of Government Efficiency will give the billionaire sweeping powers to recommend deep cuts to what he deems a “vast federal bureaucracy . . . holding America back in a big way”.  Musk has also vowed to champion deregulation and will gain influence over US policy on artificial intelligence, space exploration and electric vehicles—all sectors that he has a personal stake in through his leadership of xAI, SpaceX and Tesla.