Tech billionaire Elon Musk‘s net worth has seen an uptick after expressing regret over “some” of his hostile social media posts targeting US President Donald Trump.
As per Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings, Musk’s net worth surged from $411.4 billion to $191 million. This modest gain comes shortly after Musk acknowledged that a few of his past posts directed at Trump may have gone “too far”.
Musk’s late night phone call to Trump
Elon Musk had placed a phone call to Trump which is what led to his public expression of regret, reported New York Times. The phone call followed a private discussion on Friday between tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, Vice President JD Vance, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, where they explored the possibility of reaching a truce.
The NYT report, citing sources familiar with the matter said, that Wiles told colleagues she had grown to enjoy working with Musk and served as one of his regular contacts.
These behind-the-scenes discussions helped set the stage for Musk’s notably subdued tone in an X post early Wednesday, where he stated: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
‘Haven’t thought too much’: Trump’s response to Musk’s outreach
As per the NYT report, when reporters asked the US President about Musk reaching out, he didn’t give a very clear or direct answer. Trump said he hadn’t really thought much about it. He made the comment while arriving with First Lady Melania Trump at the John F. Kennedy Center on Wednesday.
Commenting on the issue, Vice President JD Vance said he couldn’t remember if he had spoken to Musk the previous week. But he did confirm he had spoken with both Musk and Trump about encouraging Musk to publicly and privately support Trump’s plans.
The conflict between the two had begun when Musk criticised one of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill“. Things quickly escalated, with Trump saying he didn’t need Musk’s support to win the election, and Musk alleging Trump’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
The report said that the day after Musk spoke with Susie Wiles and JD Vance, he deleted posts that accused the Trump administration of hiding government documents about Epstein.
It’s still unclear how Trump will respond to Musk’s efforts to make peace, or if the two can rebuild their relationship.