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In today’s big story, Elon Musk had some not-so-nice things to say about President Donald Trump’s tax bill.
What’s on deck
Markets: They might be in secondaries, but they’re still on top. Meet the key execs in Wall Street’s hottest market.
Tech: What a top Microsoft exec learned from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
Business: Florida real estate is showing cracks, and it could be a red flag for the rest of the country.
But first, I just can’t stand it anymore.
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The big story
Elon has something to say
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Elon Musk doesn’t see anything pretty in the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The billionaire railed against President Donald Trump’s tax bill Tuesday afternoon, calling it a “disgusting abomination.”
Musk, known for keeping his opinions to himself, posted on X that he “just can’t stand it anymore,” before criticizing the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.”
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” he added.
He’s not the only one attacking Trump’s bill. Some within the president’s own party have gone after it for fueling the government’s growing deficit.
So what’s behind Musk’s outburst?
We’re less than a week removed from his decision to leave Washington. Why jump back into the fray?
Here’s what could be rubbing him the wrong way about the bill:
DOGE disappointment: According to one estimate, Trump’s tax bill will increase the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. That’s probably a difficult pill to swallow for Musk, who was tasked with cutting that down via DOGE.
The group took extreme measures trying to achieve that, and Musk faced plenty of professional and personal backlash. Now he’s seeing the tax bill “undermine” — his words, not mine — all of that work.
Musk Inc. and the tax bill: Despite his recent foray into politics, Musk is still a business owner at heart. Trump’s tax bill has real implications for his companies, both good (SpaceX) and bad (Tesla). BI’s Ana Altchek, Alice Tecotzky and Kelsey Vlamis have a breakdown on what it means for his portfolio.
The end of a friendship: Since the Trump-Musk bromance first blossomed, people have speculated when it might end. As BI’s Peter Kafka put it shortly after the election, “both men are famously short-fused” and “adore the spotlight.”
“And that combination makes it easy to imagine a break-up down the line,” Peter added.
We’ve seen cracks in the relationship before. The dustup over the government funding bill led to jokes about Musk being the real leader of the GOP. That elicited a response from a Trump spokesperson. Musk also clashed with Trump’s base over H-1B visas.
Just Elon being Elon: Sometimes the best explanation is the simplest. Musk has a history of shooting from the hip with his takes. (Being the richest person in the world affords you that privilege.) He’s already said that he and Trump didn’t always see eye to eye. This could just be another example of that.
3 things in markets
1. The Nvidia hype is back. The chip giant’s stock has climbed 20% over the last month. After bottoming in April during a broader market sell-off, Nvidia’s stock is now up 45%. These are four big catalysts spurring it on.
2. Six Wall Street veterans on the best trades they’ve ever made. Senior money managers told BI about the highlights of their investing careers, from buying undervalued stocks to making well-timed exits. One talked about shorting GameStop.
3. Power players in secondaries. The secondaries market — in which investors buy and sell secondhand shares of private funds — is on pace to break last year’s record highs of $160 billion. Meet 14 people who took the industry from niche to new heights.
3 things in tech
1. How can you make AI your coworker, not your replacement? The HR-tech startup Lattice thinks it has the answer. The CEO of the company, which makes AI agents for the workplace, told BI that embracing AI now would help protect jobs, not threaten them.
2. Microsoft’s copycat strategy. The company’s latest exec Jay Parikh is adopting Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s strategies for his new AI organization, Core AI, according to an internal email viewed by BI. Parikh shared takeaways from an annual letter Jassy sent to Amazon shareholders in a memo. Here are three of his takeaways.
3. The pure internet is gone. Did anyone save a copy? Since ChatGPT came out, the internet has been flooded with AI-generated content. That’s sent researchers diving deep to preserve content made by humans prior to 2022, BI’s Alistair Barr writes.
3 things in business
1. Trouble in paradise. Florida was the undisputed winner of the pandemic relocation boom, luring millions of new residents with its beaches and low taxes. Now, Floridians are experiencing an affordability crisis, hurricane-fueled insurance nightmares, and more. It’s also a warning for America’s real-estate market.
2. A business immigration lawyer on Trump 2.0. The Trump administration is being as strict as possible when it comes to work-visa applications, attorney Jason Finkelman told BI. With the amount of effort and hoops to jump through, Finkelman believes it’s designed to frustrate US companies into giving up on hiring foreign workers.
3. This longtime middle manager supports flattening middle management. Alvaro Munevar Jr. told BI he’d seen middle management practices that siloed workers and slowed productivity. But as Big Tech culls those roles, the remaining ones could still evolve significantly. A LinkedIn executive said managers will need to be more like coaches to keep teams’ energy up.
In other news
What’s happening today
The Business Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
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