He is the richest man in the world and is currently making headlines every week: Elon Musk. The tech billionaire is constantly irritating people with his statements and appearances. Most recently, he wrote about Federal President Steinmeier on his platform X: "Steinmeier is an anti-democratic tyrant. Shame on him." Such defamations are read and shared millions of times. Elon Musk, Trump's confidant who will be his special representative to monitor and cut government spending, combines political and economic power. But the year began poorly for Musk economically. Tesla shares lost a lot of value. The reason is falling sales figures. In 2024, Tesla sold fewer cars than in the previous year for the first time in years, while its Chinese competitor BYD posted record figures. Since Trump's election victory, Tesla shares have been soaring - investors hoped to benefit from Musk's proximity to the future US president. Musk's fortune, estimated at more than 420 billion US dollars, is largely made up of stocks. Nevertheless, Elon Musk remains by far the richest person in the world, and his power could be further expanded due to his good relationship with Donald Trump. A few weeks before his inauguration, the question of what role the controversial billionaire will play in the future is all the more important. How great is Elon Musk's economic power really? What qualities does he have as an entrepreneur? And how great will his influence be under US President Donald Trump? Carsten Rüger will be talking about this live on ZDFheute with economist Prof. Ulrike Malmendier in California and Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen. Be there and ask your questions! 0:00 Intro 1:32 Elon Musk's corporate empire 2:45 Analysis with economist Prof. Ulrike Malmendier 13:53 Analysis with Washington correspondent Elmar Theveßen ----- Here on ZDFheute Nachrichten you can find out what is happening in the world and what concerns us all: We provide insight into the world of news, explain the background and address social debates. Discuss with us in live streams and form your own opinion based on the facts that we present to you. Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss anything. You can always stay up to date at http://www.ZDFheute.de/. #musk #trump #tesla