Elon Musk has made history by becoming the first individual to achieve a net worth of $400 billion. This milestone was reached after significant financial gains, including an insider share sale at SpaceX and the favorable impact of recent political events in the U.S., particularly the election of Donald Trump. Musk’s rise to this extraordinary level of wealth was further bolstered by the performance of Tesla's stock and his business ventures in artificial intelligence (AI), making him the wealthiest person in the world by a significant margin. Elon Musk’s net worth hits $400 billion due to SpaceX Insider share sale boost According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s net worth surged by approximately $50 billion following an insider share sale at SpaceX. This deal involved SpaceX selling shares to its employees and investors, which pushed the company’s valuation to an impressive $350 billion. As a result, Musk’s total net worth climbed to $439.2 billion, marking a significant milestone in his financial journey. This figure makes him not only the richest person in the world but also the first to breach the $400 billion mark. SpaceX’s continued success, especially with government contracts and its ambitions to send humans to Mars, played a pivotal role in Musk’s growing fortune. The company’s value has been bolstered by lucrative deals with NASA and the U.S. government, securing its position as the most valuable private startup globally. Donald Trump presidency’s impact on rise in Elon Musk’s wealth Musk's wealth trajectory has also been influenced by political events in the U.S., particularly the election of Donald Trump as president. In late 2022, Musk experienced a notable dip in his net worth, losing over $200 billion in value due to market fluctuations and challenges with Tesla's stock price. However, the political landscape shifted significantly when Trump was re-elected in the latest U.S. election. Tesla’s stock saw a significant increase of approximately 65% following Trump’s victory. Investors speculated that Trump’s policies would benefit Musk’s companies, particularly Tesla, by reducing competition and eliminating tax credits for electric vehicles, which would favor Musk’s business. These expectations led to a surge in Tesla’s stock, further increasing Musk’s wealth. Additionally, Musk has been an influential supporter of Trump, both financially and publicly. He has made substantial contributions to Trump’s election campaign and has been vocal in his support of the former president’s policies. Musk’s strong political ties are seen as a contributing factor to the positive market response to Trump’s win. Elon Musk’s expanding business ventures Beyond his ventures in space and electric vehicles, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has also seen significant growth. Since its launch in May 2023, xAI has doubled in value, reaching an estimated worth of $50 billion. The company’s focus on AI and machine learning has attracted substantial investments, partially fueled by the political climate and Musk’s business strategy. Musk’s role in the Trump administration is also expected to further influence his financial empire. He has been nominated as the co-head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, a position that will give him greater influence over government operations and potentially benefit his businesses. Musk’s involvement in Trump’s administration could lead to more favorable policies for his companies, particularly SpaceX and Tesla, as both rely on government contracts and regulatory support. SpaceX’s continued success and the future In addition to his individual business ventures, Musk’s flagship company, SpaceX, remains a major contributor to his wealth. SpaceX’s success is largely due to its long-standing relationship with the U.S. government and its ambitious plans for space exploration. The company’s recent $1.25 billion insider share sale further boosted its valuation and solidified its place as the world’s most valuable private startup. SpaceX’s partnership with NASA and the U.S. government has been a key factor in its success. The company is tasked with various missions, including launching satellites, resupplying the International Space Station, and developing technologies to send humans to Mars. Musk’s vision of interplanetary travel and space colonization has garnered widespread support, including from President Trump, who has expressed enthusiasm for SpaceX’s goals during his campaign speeches. Also read | NYT Connections Hints and Answers for December 11 | Apple iPhone 16 Pro available for Rs 71,050 on FlipkartInternet exchange provider Extreme Infocom has suggested doing away with the minimum net worth requirement of ₹100 crore for IPTV and moving to fibre-based delivery. The company wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), stating that fibre-over-satellite can solve latency and cost issues, provide benefits like bundled services for consumers and work in favour of broadband expansion. The minimum net worth requirement was a criterion issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry within the ‘IPTV Service Guidelines.’ The rule was based on the scope of licence for ‘Internet Service’ as defined in the ‘Licence Agreement for Provision of Internet Services.’ However, the Department of Telecommunications in 2013 notified the Unified License regime that remove the requirement to simplify entry of new players and promote fair competition. Currently, there are 33 registered IPTV operators in India, with a subscriber base of 5.74 lakh. However, stakeholders like the Broadband India Forum (BIF) and Bharti Airtel continue to bat in favour of the minimum net worth requirement. Airtel called it “a filter to ensure that only those with the financial capability to meet [the technology and network infrastructure investment] demands can provide services at the required standard.” The telco argued that lower net worth requirement could reduce service quality whereas the current threshold ensures that only serious operators enter the IPTV market. However, Extreme Infocom called the criterion a financial barrier that disproportionately affects smaller and emerging service providers. It said that the requirement focused market power in the hands of a few large players, impacting service offering diversity, price competition and innovation. It listed fibre-based delivery as one such innovative solution. “By leveraging dedicated fibre connections, IPTV providers can receive broadcaster content directly without the satellite link step. The fibre pathway offers high data capacity, faster speeds, and lower latency compared to satellite transmission. To address potential challenges, including high deployment costs and regional disparities in fibre infrastructure availability, the government could consider introducing incentives such as subsidies or public-private partnership models to accelerate fiber deployment in underserved areas,” said Extreme Infocom in its submission, adding that fibre connections also help with convergence-driven telecommunications solutions. Aside from the internet exchange provider, other entities like the All India Digital Cable Foundation (AIDCF) and AA Plus Consultants also supported the decision to review the minimum net worth requirement. Mahesh Uppal, Director of Com First (India), also favoured the idea of using optical fibre to improve capacity and efficiency. “This would keep India’s IPTV rules in line with technology developments and global best practices,” he said. Comments
Ministers will not set an arbitrary cap on the number of civil servants amid reports more than 10,000 jobs could be lost as the result of a spending squeeze. Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by a trade union not to impose “blunt headcount targets” for the size of the Civil Service but Government sources insisted there would be no set limit, although the number “cannot keep growing”. Departments have been ordered to find 5% “efficiency savings” as part of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review, potentially putting jobs at risk. The size of the Civil Service has increased from a low of around 384,000 in mid-2016, and the Tories went into the general election promising to reduce numbers by 70,000 to fund extra defence spending. Any reduction under Labour would be more modest, with the Guardian reporting more than 10,000 jobs could be lost. A Government spokesman said: “Under our plan for change, we are making sure every part of government is delivering on working people’s priorities — delivering growth, putting more money in people’s pockets, getting the NHS back on its feet, rebuilding Britain and securing our borders in a decade of national renewal. “We are committed to making the Civil Service more efficient and effective, with bold measures to improve skills and harness new technologies.” Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect trade union said: “We need a clear plan for the future of the civil service that goes beyond the blunt headcount targets that have failed in the past. “This plan needs to be developed in partnership with civil servants and their unions, and we look forward to deeper engagement with the government in the coming months.” A Government source said: “The number of civil servants cannot keep growing. “But we will not set an arbitrary cap. “The last government tried that and ended up spending loads on more expensive consultants.” The Government is already risking a confrontation with unions over proposals to limit pay rises for more than a million public servants to 2.8%, a figure only just over the projected 2.6% rate of inflation next year. Unions representing teachers, doctors and nurses have condemned the proposals. In the face of the union backlash, Downing Street said the public sector must improve productivity to justify real-terms pay increases. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s vital that pay awards are fair for both taxpayers and workers.” Asked whether higher pay settlements to staff would mean departmental cuts elsewhere, the spokesman said: “Real-terms pay increases must be matched by productivity gains and departments will only be able to fund pay awards above inflation over the medium-term if they become more productive and workforces become more productive.” TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “It’s hard to see how you address the crisis in our services without meaningful pay rises. “And it’s hard to see how services cut to the bone by 14 years of Tory government will find significant cash savings. “The Government must now engage unions and the millions of public sector workers we represent in a serious conversation about public service reform and delivery.”Jimmy Carter, the 39th president and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has died at 100Via Middle East Eye As this year comes to an end, the most populous Arab country remains a stagnant mammoth with a slowly rotting political order, lacking domestic legitimacy and kept alive only by a continuous lifeline of cash from the West and Arab Gulf states who fear the repercussions of the Egyptian regime’s implosion. The year started with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is now 70, renewing his presidential term until 2030 after an electoral circus whose outcome was determined from the start. His only serious competition, former parliamentarian Ahmed Tantawi, was swiftly jailed . Egypt’s secret police, Homeland Security , continued throughout the year targeting all forms and shades of dissent, both online and offline, keeping citizens incarcerated in an endless labyrinth of fabricated cases , dubbed by rights lawyers as a process of "rotation" . Prison conditions remain draconian, and detainees have repeatedly gone on hunger strikes to protest torture and maltreatment. More than 50 incarcerated people have died in interior ministry-run prisons, Homeland Security branches and police stations this year. Criticism of the president or regime officials in the mainstream media is virtually non-existent . Most media outlets are officially owned and micromanaged by one company created by the General Intelligence Service (GIS). A handful of online independent news sites operate under strict conditions, are censored and denied media licences and face constant harassment . At the time of writing, at least 24 journalists and media workers remained in prison, according to the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate. Street activism, which experienced a rare, sudden revival in October 2023 with the outbreak of the Gaza war , was quickly crushed by security services , who ensured the streets remained quiet. A year later, more than 100 people are still in prison for taking part in peaceful solidarity actions with the Palestinian people. Syria shows the way? While organized street dissent remains under siege, spontaneous social protests by politically unaffiliated citizens involving confrontations with state forces have become increasingly frequent. Specifically, there have been industrial actions over wages and working conditions, as well as protests over housing, evictions and road safety. Since the 2013 coup, the regime has embarked on one of the biggest demolition campaigns in Egypt’s modern history, part of its militarised urban restructuring . Architect Omnia Khalil estimates that roughly 10 percent of the residents of Giza and Cairo alone have been displaced since 2013. This onslaught has triggered long-running fights against evictions, which have turned into clashes with the military and police, such as in Jemima, Port Said, Warraq and elsewhere. These protests should be monitored because they will likely escalate in the coming year. Earlier this month, Egyptians watched in jubilation as the brutal dynastic dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad fell. How this will play out for the millions who live under Sisi's brutal dictatorship remains to be seen. With the destruction of the Egyptian opposition and almost daily acts of state terror against the slightest sign or gesture of dissent , a repetition of the 2011 domino effect is unlikely - at least in the short run. However, there are certainly those in Egypt who are watching the Syrian events and contemplating whether an armed insurgency is the only way to topple Sisi, just as the Syrian 'rebels' did. Needless to say, the rebels' victory will boost political Islam in Egypt and elsewhere . Sisi is also nervous about the events in Syria. Roughly one week after Assad's downfall, he met with military commanders, senior police officials, the GIS chief, the prime minister and several other top government officials at the defense ministry's strategic command headquarters in the new administrative capital to discuss the impact of the regional wars in Syria and Gaza. Humanitarian organizations and media reports have estimated that there are some 70,000 political prisoners under Sisi ... "Sisi's prisons are no less horrifying than the atrocities of Syria's prisons." After Syria's rebels freed scores of political detainees, Egyptians are calling for the same in Egypt. Since 2013, Egypt's President Sisi has detained over 60,000 political prisoners nationwide. pic.twitter.com/ZCdvGc7Knq Speaking to his publicists on the same day, he called on the people to unite and safeguard the Egyptian state. "There are two things I've never done, thanks to God," he said . "I neither stained my hands with anyone's blood nor took anyone's money." Military business Despite pressure from international donors - and occasionally, prominent Egyptian businessmen - on the regime to remove the army from the civilian economy, the military continues to expand its control . It manipulates free-market forces in its favor and uses its clout to impose itself in partnerships with local and global capital. In 2024, Sisi continued to dodge calls to privatize military corporations or curb their influence. On the contrary, they were given more monopolies and a larger share of the pie. Early this month , Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced plans to list several companies affiliated with the military on the Egyptian Exchange. However, this is not the first time such statements have been made. Sisi announced in November 2022 that two military firms - a petrol company and a bottled water producer - would be listed on the stock exchange. A few months later, Madbouly announced that 10 more army companies would be offered on the stock market. To date, no single military firm has been privatised. There is a good reason why the regime has been procrastinating all those years with selling those firms. At this point, Sisi’s loyal constituency is confined to the officer corps. His popularity among all social classes in Egypt, including sections of big capital, has hit rock bottom. Antagonising the brass or messing with their economic privileges could prove fatal in such turbulent times. So, is the regime finally embarking on privatizing the army’s firms? The devil is always in the details. According to Madbouly’s statements, parts of the firms will be sold directly to a "strategic investor", though no specifics were provided regarding the identity of these investors or the percentage of shares to be sold. Also, the firms will not be fully privatized, but a percentage will be offered in the stock market. Again, it is unclear what percentage. Some possible scenarios to watch in 2025 include stocks being sold to civilian investors who act as fronts for the military or to companies that the military partially or wholly owns. For instance, the army’s National Service Projects Organization (NSPO) holds a 20 percent stake in Taqa Arabia, which is seen as a potential bidder for Wataniya - one of the four firms to be listed. If Sisi takes something away from the army with one hand, he will compensate them for it with the other hand. This could mean more concessions in other sectors, allocated lands and so on. For example, while planning the privatization of Silo Foods, the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) is now, in effect, running the agricultural production sector and has recently been given a monopoly over grain imports . Crisis of hegemony In the summer of 2023, Sisi signed a law ending tax exemptions for government economic activities. But tax exemptions for army business ventures remained in place, as the new law included an exception for economic activities related to “national security”, which could be conveniently interpreted as anything related to the military. In the coming year, the regime is likely to continue evading calls to reform the military-economic complex. It will likely resort to maneuvers such as floating military firms in the stock market, only to buy them through other companies and businessmen who are fronts for the army, or curbing the privileges of military corporations in one sector, only to compensate in another. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi unveiled the new administrative capital and presidential palace, built 45 kilometers east of Cairo in the desert, during the D-8 summit. The mega city, comparable in size to Hamburg, cost $45 billion. pic.twitter.com/J1YnIm0ttG Meanwhile, news emerged this month that Ibrahim al-Organi , a criminal smuggler-turned-militiaman and state-sponsored businessman, is planning to launch a political party. An official declaration has yet to be made. But if the project proceeds, the proposed party will contest the parliamentary and senate elections in 2025. (I stress “if”, as Organi has not publicly confirmed this, and the project could ultimately be scrapped.) But we must ask why such plans are being floated. This is not necessarily driven by Organi’s personal ambitions. He is an agent for the state and can be easily replaced at any point if the regime deems him useless or harmful. Rather, this is driven by the regime’s crisis of hegemony . Sisi is ruling solely by coercion, unlike his predecessors and has eviscerated the civil society and political institutions that manufacture some necessary level of consent, which is crucial for the endurance of the regime and the state. Political desert Sisi desperately needs something a la former President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP). But so far, he has failed to replicate it, including through the miserable Nation’s Future Party, whose public events for shoring up support for Sisi only backfire and turn into anti-regime protests . Attempts at rigging the votes in professional syndicates either fail or descend into pure thuggery , causing scandals that the regime has to scramble to manage. News of Organi’s proposed political party is the latest attempt to “create politics” in a country whose political scene has become wholly desertified. The total reliance on foreign debt has led to domestic fallout, widening class gaps in Egypt and a state of social decay , along with a decline in Cairo’s regional clout and soft power . From an active regional hegemon under previous regimes, Sisi’s Egypt is now dependent on foreign loans, grants and continuous bailouts by regional and international donors who see Egypt as "too big to fail" and do not want to risk further instability in the Middle East . As a result, Sisi has been unable to steer the course of events in Egypt’s traditional spheres of influence. Instead, he has either suffered diplomatic defeats or brought Egypt to a state of shameless complicity in the ongoing genocide on his eastern border under the watchful eyes of his military. In the coming year, Egypt will remain relevant to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict by virtue of geographical proximity, which puts it in control of Gaza’s only exit to the outside world - the Rafah crossing. While incapable of forcing Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor along its border, Cairo will continue to pressure the weaker side - the Palestinians - into concessions and compromises to prove its own worth to the Trump administration in the US .
