Musk Hits Public Markets But Says Nothing On His Subsidies

Elon Musk is expressing dissatisfaction with the state of US financial markets, as reported by Emily Graffeo and Kurt Wagner for Bloomberg News.

Space X has been denied a subsidy of $885 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress

In a wide-ranging talk with ARK Investment Management’s Cathie Wood, he bemoaned the high regulatory burden faced by publicly traded companies, the pressure from shareholders that limits efficiency, and how passive investing is stoking volatility.

These complaints add to a litany of grievances Musk has raised over the years about the tradeoffs of tapping public markets to build some of his many ventures.

Notably, he did not mention the subsidies he had received from the US federal government, which he accuses of choking private enterprise.

His disdain for the rigidity of US securities laws has sometimes led to trouble with regulators, including a high-profile fight with watchdogs over tweets about Tesla Inc. Musk is also the chief executive of SpaceX, one of the world’s most valuable closely held companies, which has been denied a subsidy of $885 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In fact, Tesla and other Musk ventures profited from federal support, with the electric car maker receiving a subsidy of $460 million when it was struggling. Musk is now expressing dissatisfaction as his EV venture faces stiff competition, and interest wanes in his "Occupy Mars" vision.

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