https://archive.ph/pIVab(from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/)
Elon Musk’s business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding
Government infusions at key moments helped Tesla and SpaceX flourish, boosting Musk’s wealth.
By Desmond Butler
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February 26, 2025
Elon Musk and his cost-cutting U.S. DOGE Service team have been on a mission to trim government largesse. Yet Musk is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the taxpayers’ coffers.
Over the years, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments, a Washington Post analysis has found, helping seed the growth that has made him the world’s richest person.
The payments stretch back more than 20 years. Shortly after becoming CEO of a cash-strapped Tesla in 2008, Musk fought hard to secure a low-interest loan from the Energy Department, according to two people directly involved with the process, holding daily briefings with company executives about the paperwork and spending hours with a government loan officer.
When Tesla soon after realized it was missing a crucial Environmental Protection Agency certification it needed to qualify for the loan days before Christmas, Musk went straight to the top, urging then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to intervene, according to one of the people. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Nearly two-thirds of the $38 billion in funds have been promised to Musk’s businesses in the past five years.
In
2024 alone, federal and local governments committed at least $6.3 billion to Musk’s companies, the highest total to date.
The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work for the federal government. SpaceX has been developing spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, the Pentagon’s spy satellite division, according to the Reuters news agency. The Wall Street Journal reported that contract was worth $1.8 billion, citing company documents.
The Post found nearly a dozen other local grants, reimbursements and tax credits where the specific amount of money is not public.
An additional 52 ongoing contracts with seven government agencies — including NASA, the Defense Department and the General Services Administration — are on track to potentially pay Musk’s companies an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years, according to The Post’s analysis.
Government contracts to SpaceX from NASA and the Defense Department make up the majority of funds. Tesla has earned $11.4 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state programs aimed at boosting the electric-car industry, and experts say its sales have been bolstered by a federal $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit for consumers. Musk has called for an end to that consumer credit, arguing his competitors need the incentive more than Tesla.
DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, has sought to cut staff, slash budgets or cut contracts at all seven of the agencies where Musk’s companies have ongoing contracts. That includes the General Services Administration, Defense Department and Transportation Department.
Musk’s relationships with government agencies have at times been mutually beneficial: His ventures have pioneered new markets that have advanced U.S. government goals, including space exploration and the expansion of electric vehicles. And while many of the government programs Musk has benefited from are open to others in the electric-vehicle industry, no other company has gone on to achieve Tesla’s market dominance.
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