Elon Musk's companies, Tesla and SpaceX, suffered a combined devaluation of approximately US$ 456 billion, equivalent to about R$ 2.49 trillion, by the close of trading on Thursday (5). This drop in market value was motivated by the midterm elections in the United States, where Democrats gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On Thursday afternoon, SpaceX shares fell by about 9%, while Tesla stocks dropped by approximately 11%. This movement followed a broader selling trend in the technology sector but also reflected investor apprehension regarding the possibility of new Congressional investigations involving Musk and potential increased regulation applied to his corporations.
Since the close on Tuesday, the two companies had already lost more than US$ 420 billion (approximately R$ 2.29 trillion) in market value, reaching a combined loss of US$ 456 billion by the end of Thursday's trading.
Both Tesla and SpaceX are expanding their artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure activities in the state of Texas. One of the mentioned projects is Terafab, a large-scale facility planned to house a data center and a semiconductor factory in Grimes County.
Additionally, SpaceX plans to build a supercomputer at Starbase, the company's launch complex and business city located in Texas, as indicated in job postings released by the company.
According to analysts at Deutsche Bank, the imposition of stricter regulatory standards could delay the expansion of SpaceX's computing capacity in the state. Furthermore, the company may be required to increase its investments to comply with new guidelines related to the construction and operation of data centers.
Beyond the political pressure concerning AI infrastructure, Musk and SpaceX received instructions to retain documents related to restrictions imposed on a military version of the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine. This information was reported by CNN, citing an advisor to a Democratic senator, and the restrictions were said to have compromised Ukrainian defense against Russian attacks.
This incident could intensify Congressional scrutiny over the company's actions and its role in national security matters. More severe oversight could also complicate Musk's plans to merge Tesla and SpaceX, although he has already expressed interest in this union, stressing that its realization would depend on shareholder approval.
The decrease in the companies' market value directly impacted Elon Musk's personal wealth. According to Forbes, his net worth, which had exceeded US$ 1 trillion (about R$ 5.46 trillion) after SpaceX's IPO in June, fell to less than US$ 800 billion (approximately R$ 4.37 trillion). The entrepreneur lost about US$ 90 billion (R$ 491 billion) in just one week, remaining, despite the reduction, the richest person in the world.
