Elon Musk’s mentality: ‘It is a weakness to be liked’

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DealBook Summit features conversations with business and policy leaders at the heart of today’s biggest stories, recorded live during the annual DealBook Summit event in New York City.

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites connect all corners of the world to the internet. His electric car company, Tesla, has led the auto industry toward a self-driving, battery-powered era. His purchase of Twitter in 2022 promised a “common digital town square,” but a year later the platform – now called X – has become a lightning rod for controversy.

Earlier this month, IBM and other major brands pulled their spending from the social media platform after Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic post. While apologizing for the post in this interview, he accused companies of “blackmail” for withdrawing their ads and said that if X went bankrupt, the public would blame the brands.

From brain implants to a future in the stars, Elon Musk’s vision defines innovation – and the thorny issues that come with it. What drives him?

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The DealBook Summit, hosted by Andrew Ross Sorkin, columnist and editor of DealBook, a daily business and policy report from The New York Times, features interviews with the leaders at the center of today’s biggest stories, recorded live on stage of the annual DealBook Summit event in New York City.

The DealBook events team includes Julie Zann, Caroline Brunelle, Haley Duffy, Angela Austin, Hailey Hess, Dana Pruskowski, Matt Kaiser and Yen-Wei Liu.

Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Nina Lassam, Ravi Mattu, Beth Weinstein, Kate Carrington, Isabella Anderson and Jeffrey Miranda.