Musk to reduce political spending, reaffirms commitment to lead Tesla for next five years

DOHA, QATAR: Elon Musk said he’s committed to still leading Tesla Inc. five years from now and expects to pare back his political spending, assuaging some investors’ concerns about the future of his most valuable company.

The billionaire offered new details about his plans in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg news that also touched on his compensation, Tesla’s sliding sales and a possible spinoff of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite business.

Musk repeated his criticisms of a familiar cast of characters, from Bill Gates to the Delaware judge who’s twice ruled against his massive Tesla pay package.

Musk, whose $375.5 billion fortune leads the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, reiterated that he wants to own more shares of Tesla for reasons of authority, rather than wealth.

“It’s not a money thing,” he said during a remote appearance Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “It’s reasonable control thing, over the future of the company.”

Musk has been the CEO of Tesla since 2008 one of the longest active stints atop the world’s largest automakers. His level of engagement with the company has come under greater scrutiny as the carmaker has followed up its first annual sales drop in over a decade with steeper declines early this year.

Tesla shares jumped after Musk’s comments about his commitment to staying CEO, trading up as much as 3.6 percent before pairing gains. The stock has declined 14 percent this year.

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Musk, 53, downplayed the extent of Tesla’s challenges, saying that “it’s already turned around.” When pressed about this – the carmaker’s vehicle sales continued to plunge across Europe’s biggest electric vehicle markets in April – the CEO said that the region is the company’s weakest, but that it’s strong elsewhere.

“Our sales are doing well at this point,” he said. “We don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall.”

Musk disputed the extent to which he’s damaged Tesla’s brand, saying that while the company may be losing some sales among consumers on the political left, it’s gained others on the right. He criticised protesters he said he committed ‘massive violence’ against his companies.

“They’re on the wrong side of history, and that’s an evil thing to do,” he said referring to people damaging Tesla cars and showrooms. “Something needs to be done about them, and a number of them are going to prison, and they deserve it.”

Musk also fired back at Gates, who criticised him last week for the role he’s played in the Trump administration slashing tens of billions of dollars in assistance the US has provided to developing nations. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder told the Financial Times last week: “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.”

“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children,” Musk responded.

When asked whether he’s checked if Gates is right that cuts to USAID might cost millions of lives, Musk challenged his fellow billionaire to “show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true. It’s false.”

When the conversation turned to elections – including the upcoming US midterms in 2026 – Musk said he thinks he’ll spend “a lot less” on politics in the future.

“I think I’ve done enough,” he said.

Asked if this is because of the blowback he’s been getting, Musk demurred.

“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” he said. “I do not currently see a reason.”