What Donald Trump's Victory Means for Elon Musk and Big Tech | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   Big tech leaders are taking to social media, of course, to congratulate Donald Trump. This is- this is typical. Let's just start off with that. Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and Sam Altman wished Trump well. I thought they were pretty anodyne. So did, um, Mark Cuban. He was like, "Godspeed." You know what I mean? He was like, "You won fair and square," which I thought was fair. I thought that was classy of him to do so. He didn't, like, slavishly say something. The person who did, Jeff Bezos, was, uh, quite different from the others. Um, he was one of the first to kiss the ring, calling Trump's win an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. It- it had, uh, uh, i- i- it did not have a tone of someone who owns The Washington Post. He's the only one who actually has another thing he's gotta think about, which he didn't at all, in any way, so I thought that was problematic. And it was much more effusive than the others. Um, you know, they all wanna work with this administration. They've done it before. Um, they don't wanna be in his crosshairs and they'd like to get rid of, uh, all the different investigations and- and things like that. Although, a lot of Republicans like these investigations very much. And so that's a really interesting, uh, pushback. Um, talk a little bit about these, uh, CEOs, obviously. You s- more than- more than anyone, tech CEOs weighed in.

2. SGScott Galloway1:12

   They're smart to do it, Kara. He responds to this type of obsequious flattery. And if they're- they're- they're focused on their shareholders, they're smart to do it. And it's- it- you kinda have to- you throw up a little bit in your mouth when- when it's more than anything just- than just a polite congratulations. But if you reverse engineer it to shareholder value, they're smart to do it, just like a lot of foreign leaders pretend that he's really interesting and are- and that they're fascinated with him. And he's gonna get more- he's gonna get more... Uh, you know, when- when you're courting someone and they tell you that they're really into jewelry or baseball trading cards and that they will like you if you buy them these things, you buy them these things. And he's made it clear that if you say nice things about him, it works. Uh, I don't... So I think they're smart to do it.

3. KSKara Swisher2:01

   Yeah, I agree, but I thought Bezos' was a little bit abusive. Compare... If you could put them next to each other, it's really quite a different tone. And he does also own The Washington Post. He might've been a little less-

4. SGScott Galloway2:11

   It's around-

5. KSKara Swisher2:12

   ... ass as yet.

6. SGScott Galloway2:12

   Yeah, it's all about money. It- it- The Washington Post is nothing but-

7. KSKara Swisher2:15

   I understand that, but he, he-

8. SGScott Galloway2:15

   ... nothing but a nuisance for him right now.

9. KSKara Swisher2:17

   Oh, he shouldn't own it then. He shouldn't own it, then stop owning something-

10. SGScott Galloway2:20

    Okay.

11. KSKara Swisher2:20

    ... where you have to-

12. SGScott Galloway2:20

    We- we're talking about should versus is.

13. KSKara Swisher2:22

    I-

14. SGScott Galloway2:22

    He-

15. KSKara Swisher2:23

    Yeah.

16. SGScott Galloway2:23

    Jeff Bezos-

17. KSKara Swisher2:23

    Yeah.

18. SGScott Galloway2:23

    ... is all about money.

19. KSKara Swisher2:25

    Well, he already- he already did that already with the- dumping the, uh, endorsement. So I just felt like he should've maybe been a little less kiss-assy. Anything about the Peter Thiel factor? I think he's the quiet one here. Musk gets all the... We're gonna talk about Elon in a second, but I think Peter Thiel is the one, the real mastermind here in so many ways. Um, and I know people... I thought he clocked Trump early, um, and was in there at the last election. I think he clocked Vance. Um, I think he's been quiet. He's doesn't need all the attention the way, uh, Musk does. I think he's far smarter than Elon Musk in many ways. Um, and I think he's the... All roads lead to Peter Thiel in this regard, even though he- it seemed like he was out of the election, right? But I don't... I feel like he's- every one of his tenants is here, is present here.

20. SGScott Galloway3:14

    You- you first highlighted this to me, and it struck me as something... I hadn't- I just hadn't thought about it, not at least it... I hadn't connected the dots the way you had, and I've thought about it more and more, and I think what you're saying makes sense because, I mean, here's the scary thing. With Trump's age and body mass index, there's about a one in three chance he leaves the White House feet first. You know, in four years and two months, an obese, what is he, 78-year-old man, it would be very hard to get life insurance. And that puts a guy in the White House who will never utter one word to Peter Thiel, and that word is no. He owes everything to Peter Thiel. He- that's how he got to be a senator. That's how he got the VP spot. And so if Peter Thiel calls him and says, "I need you to do a- this tax," or, "Put a tariff here," or, "Deregulate this," or, "Create a floating island where billionaires don't have to pay tax," or, "We totally ban the following activities," or s- uh, uh, Vance- Vance, if he can, will do it. I- I just don't think-

21. KSKara Swisher4:17

    Yeah.

22. SGScott Galloway4:17

    ... Vance could ever say no to Peter. He is where he is, he is one heartbeat from the presidency because- not because of an impressive business career-

23. KSKara Swisher4:25

    (laughs)

24. SGScott Galloway4:25

    ... and not because he's a great politician, because of Peter Thiel.

25. KSKara Swisher4:29

    Yep. Yep. That's the one to watch. And even though Elon, as usual, the circus clown, likes to take all the attention. As Bloomberg put it, Elon is about to find out what $130 million for Trump gets him. We mentioned the Tesla stock surge, that's added $26 billion to his net worth, but Elon stands to benefit in a number of other ways, including government efficiency commission role, EV and autonomous driving policies that benefit Tesla, and more government contracts for SpaceX. Uh, uh, Tr- uh, Trump has previously pledged his support for Elon's goal of sending a rocket to Mars. Um, that one I don't mind so much. I honestly don't. And as I mentioned, I think Elon merges X with Truth Social, so I also think they're gonna have a falling out. I really feel like this is coming. If I had to make any one prediction, that's wh- I feel like... Peter is very quiet in the background and gets exactly what he wants. Elon can't help himself and neither can Trump, and Trump's the president. So, thoughts?

26. SGScott Galloway5:24

    Well, like, uh, this arguably, you could say that Musk's $119 million-

27. KSKara Swisher5:32

    Great investments.

28. SGScott Galloway5:32

    ... in donations to Trump were one of the best investments that's ever been made. He made it over approximately-

29. KSKara Swisher5:37

    Mm-hmm.

30. SGScott Galloway5:37

    ... three or six months, and in exchange, his net worth has gone up $15 billion just from his Tesla shares, which-

Episode duration: 10:55