Episode summary
Tesla Slides on Concern Musk’s New Party Will Worsen Slump | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Lisa Mateo · Guests: Craig Trudell, Sam Fazeli, Anurag Rana, Mandeep Singh
Summary
Tesla shares fell more than 7% after Elon Musk announced a new political party, and the discussion centered on how much additional brand and governance risk that creates. The host and a Bloomberg News editor argued that Musk is now risking alienation from both Democrats and Republicans, while also distracting from Tesla’s operations just as deliveries continue to weaken. The board’s ability to restrain him was described as limited, with Musk still seen as firmly in control.
The episode also covered the House passage of President Trump’s tax and spending bill and its mixed implications for pharma. A Bloomberg Intelligence analyst said an orphan-drug change could delay Medicare price negotiations for some drugs, including Merck’s Keytruda, but warned that tariff talk, most-favored-nation pricing pressure, and Medicaid cuts remain major overhangs for drugmakers and insurers.
Later segments examined CoreWeave’s all-stock purchase of Core Scientific as a way to expand AI infrastructure capacity, and TikTok’s reported push to build a U.S. version of its app as part of a potential sale process. The analyst said Oracle is well positioned to host the platform, while the deal remains tied to broader U.S.-China negotiations.
Key takeaways
- Tesla’s slump was linked to concern that Musk’s new party could deepen brand damage and distract from operations, according to the Bloomberg News editor.
- The host and the editor said Tesla’s board appears unable to restrain Musk, despite ongoing governance issues and the pay-package dispute.
- A Bloomberg Intelligence analyst said the orphan-drug change could give Merck’s Keytruda one extra year before Medicare price negotiations.
- The same analyst warned that tariff uncertainty, most-favored-nation pricing pressure, and Medicaid cuts remain the bigger risks for pharma and managed care.
- CoreWeave’s all-stock deal for Core Scientific was framed as a capacity expansion move for AI infrastructure, not a traditional synergy play.
- TikTok’s U.S. future was described as tied to both a buyer search and a new app architecture that could separate the algorithm from Chinese control.
Notable quotes
“they see all sorts of risks here. um you know th this is a a matter of now you know not just alienate alienating Democrats but but also now going after Republicans”
“just a a great big distraction after he's assured everybody, you know, on multiple occasions, look, I'm I'm going to, you know, sort of get back to business”
“One of the big drugs that had this was Kruda, which is the biggest selling drug at the minute”
“So that really is where I think the biggest problem is. We haven't heard anything, but that's still under discussion and under consideration”
“They basically buy GPUs from Nvidia. They create a network or an infrastructure and they give it to people to go out and experiment”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10 a.m.
Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. For now, we want to go from the markets and shift over to Tesla.
Tesla shares have been down. on there more than 7% right now. Here to tell us about it more why is Craig Trudeell.
He's Bloomberg Global Auditors editor. Uh Craig want to start out and and talk about this. Are investors are they just tired I guess this is assuming going according to what Elon Musk has been saying.
Are they just tired of of his kind of talking about this and and putting himself out there and and talking about politics when he should be focused on the company? I I think they see all sorts of risks here. um you know th this is a a matter of now you know not just alienate alienating Democrats but but also now going after Republicans and and um you know really uh sort of ticking off Donald Trump and we we've seen that with uh Trump going from you know kind of biting his tongue when Musk was first attacking uh you know the the big beautiful bill to uh really going after Musk in a a more sort of pitched way and you know so so this is uh you know a risk for him uh to to sort of make himself an an enemy in of of uh both sides of the aisle in in Washington potentially.
Uh but also, you know, just a a great big distraction after he's assured everybody, you know, on multiple occasions, look, I'm I'm going to, you know, sort of get back to business and and uh you know, tend to to Tesla more than I have been uh you know, since last year.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- tesla shares
- elon musk america party
- pharma tax bill
- ai infrastructure m&a
- tiktok app update
Companies and tickers mentioned
- TSLA
- CORZ
- Tesla
- Coreweave
- Core Scientific
- TikTok
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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