Elon Musk has moved beyond the role of Tesla (TSLA) CEO, as his companies, including SpaceX (SPCX), now control communications, military, space-launch and AI infrastructure with influence over national security. This month, restrictions on SpaceX's satellite services disrupted Ukraine's military operations, including battlefield drones, and accounts conflict over who ordered them: Musk says the White House controls access to Starshield, while officials in the Trump administration say they were not involved. SpaceX handles roughly 90% of all mass sent into orbit, the Pentagon is Starshield's largest customer, and countries including the Philippines, Argentina and Indonesia use Starlink for national communications. Experts say Musk commands resources larger than all but a handful of governments, though CEOs of major banks, oil companies and Silicon Valley also wield political influence. The article argues that governments increasingly rely on a few private corporations for capabilities once controlled by the state.
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Original headline: How Elon Musk went from Tesla CEO to the most powerful civilian , non - governmental actor in history
Read the original on finance.yahoo.com ↗
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TSLA
• NeutralTesla, Inc.
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Discretionary |
| Industry | Automobile Manufacturers |
| Market cap | $1.4T |
| Close on 10/22/2026 | 374.67 |
| Change that session | -3.05% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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