What Mark Cuban and other billionaires said on Donald Trump-Elon Musk breakup
and US President
unraveled on Thursday (June 5) following Musk's criticism of a key legislative initiative. The dispute, which escalated rapidly, saw both figures engage in public exchanges, leading to significant financial repercussions for Musk.
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The exchange began when Musk, who departed his role at DOGE in May, criticised the Trump Administration's "
Big Beautiful Bill
." Musk labeled the legislation the "Debt Slavery Bill" and the "Big Ugly Spending Bill."
President Trump responded during a White House event, defending the bill and subsequently threatening to cancel government contracts associated with Musk's companies via a post on Truth Social. This led to a decline in
Tesla shares
.
The public dispute between the two prominent figures has since drawn commentary from various business leaders, including
, Bill Ackman,
Vinod Khosla
and others.
Here's what business leaders said about Musk-Trump online spat
Mark Cuban
The former "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban endorsed Musk's idea of creating a new political party. Cuban reshared Musk's poll on X with three check marks
Bill Ackman
Billionaire Bill Ackman backed both Trump and Musk on X, advising them to "make peace for the benefit of our country."
'We are much stronger together than apart,' he said with Musk responding, 'You're not wrong.'
Paul Graham
Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham shared his thoughts X, saying, 'A lot of people seem to be treating this as if it were just a beef. But the underlying allegation is a very serious one. If it's true, Trump is surely going to have to resign,' he wrote in a post on X.
Vinod Khosla
Vinond Khosla, who has been a critic of Musk, supported the
Tesla
CEO on his stand on deficit.
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'Despite our differences, I admire your speaking up on the deficit!' Notably, Khosla endorsed Kamala Harris and was engaged in verbal spat online with Musk multiple times.
Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci, who has been a critic of Trump, voiced his support for Musk.
'Elon is right about Trump," the former Goldman Sachs investment banker said in an X post.
In a separate post on Friday, Scaramucci said that "Elon lasted 12 Scaramuccis," a tongue-in-cheek reference to his 10-day tenure as White House communications director before Trump fired him.
Shaun Maguire
In an X post, Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire praised Musk for sticking to his guns.
'Elon leaves it all on the field. And he puts what he believes in ahead of himself. How can you not be inspired by that,' he added.
Gary Cohn
According to Gary Cohn, IBM's vice chairman, things could be very different next week, cautioning against overreacting to the situation.
'If we've learned one thing over the Trump administration, this is a few hours, the world could be completely different a week from now.
It's not like the White House is sitting there only worried about the Elon Musk situation,' he said on CNBC.
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