Tesla CEO Elon Musk invested more than $250 million to support President-elect Donald Trump during his election campaign, according to newly released campaign finance reports. The filing also revealed that he contributed over $20 million to a mysterious super PAC.
The filing, submitted Thursday to the Federal Election Commission, revealed Musk as the sole financier of RBG PAC. The super PAC, which had not disclosed its donors before the election, focused on ads asserting that Trump did not support a federal abortion ban.
RBG PAC received a single donation of $20.5 million from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust based in Austin, Texas. The group spent nearly all of its funds on digital advertising, mail campaigns, and text messaging efforts between October 17 and November 25, according to the report.
The group's website controversially claims that Trump and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg shared similar views on abortion, a statement that drew sharp criticism from Ginsburg's granddaughter, Clara Spera. Speaking to The New York Times, Spera called the message "nothing short of appalling."
Trump has long taken credit for the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark ruling reversed in part due to the votes of three justices he appointed. Notably, Amy Coney Barrett, one of those justices, was confirmed weeks before the 2020 election to fill Ginsburg's seat following her death in mid-September. During his presidency, Trump also supported a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks.
The late ad blitz from RBG PAC represents just a fraction of Elon Musk's total election spending in 2024. Musk also funded America PAC, a super PAC that reported spending $157 million in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
According to its latest campaign finance report, America PAC received $238 million from Musk throughout the election cycle, including in-kind contributions. Of that total, $120 million was funneled into the PAC during the final weeks leading up to the election.
Elon Musk Net Worth
According to Forbes, Musk has an estimated net worth of $343 billion. He is a co-founder of seven companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and the artificial intelligence startup xAI. He owns approximately 12% of Tesla shares, excluding options, though more than half of those shares are pledged as collateral for personal loans of up to $3.5 billion.
SpaceX, founded in 2002, has an estimated valuation of nearly $210 billion as of a tender offer launched in late 2024, with Musk holding a 42% stake.
Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and later renamed it X. However, Forbes estimates the platform's value has since dropped by nearly 70% as of August 2024.
In 2023, Musk founded xAI, where he retains a 54% stake. The company was valued at $50 billion by private investors as of November 2024.
