We Are Going to Start Using the T

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The rise of the world's first trillionaire.  The initial public offering for SpaceX crowned Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. WSJ’s Theo Francis takes us inside the staggering finances of the world’s richest man, and explores what the impact of his new status might be. 

Elon Musk:  And let me tell you, if people had told me this was going to happen, I was like, "Man, you must be smoking some really good crack." 

Theo Francis:  It's pretty striking. I do our annual ranking of executive pay of CEO pay and every year there's a few CEOs who make a hundred million or more. A hundred million. That's a lot of money. And yet I have to remember to use an M and say million instead of B for billion when you're talking about the wealth of people like Zuckerberg and Bezos and Allison and of course Musk when we're going to have to start using the T. It's a really remarkable moment in terms of individual wealth, and I think the real question is: how far does it go?

Listen to or read the entire interview.

Grievances and Drama On the World Stage in Artificial Intelligence

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A jury rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI, finding that he brought his lawsuit against the company and Chief Executive Sam Altman after the statute of limitations expired.

The verdict brings to a close a case that fixated the tech world on the grievances and drama of some of the most powerful personalities in artificial intelligence. 

Note:  The Global Small Business Blog has been in operation since 2004 and is ranked number one in the world for entrepreneurs and small businesses interested in going global.  As of February 1, 2026, we average more than 900,000 readers on a monthly basis.

Today in Global Small Business: Can America Dodge a Tariff Bullet?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Can American dodge a tariff bullet?
• Move to Canada?  Migrants face 'No good options' after supreme court ruling.
• It appears the deals that Trump is negotiating with law firms are not legally valid.
• Quote of the week:  “As history has repeatedly proven, one trade tariff begets another, then another - until you've got a full-blown trade war. No one ever wins, and consumers always get screwed." – Mark McKinnon
• Did he [Elon Musk] or didn't he use drugs during the 2024 presidential campaign?
• EU 'prepared to impose countermeasures' after Trump doubles steel tariffs to 50%.

Leadership Lessons from Dr. Adam Grant

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Last December, I [Dr. Adam Grant] asked my students at Wharton to nominate and vote on topics for our final class. The runaway top choice was leadership lessons from Elon Musk. It’s become a hot topic among the corporate elite, too. 

As an organizational psychologist, I’ve long admired the boldness of Mr. Musk’s vision, the intensity of his drive and the impact of his innovations in cars and rockets. But the way he deals with people would fail the leadership class I teach at his alma mater.  

Read the entire Opinion in The New York Times here.

I'd Like to Say Thank You Very Much

©2024 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"For all the supporters of Tesla over the years, and it's been several years now and there have been some very tough times, I'd just like to say thank you very much. I deeply appreciate the support, particularly through the darkest times." – Elon Musk

Twitter's Blue Bird Has Flown Away

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On July 23, 2023, Elon Musk revealed the new 'X' logo to replace Twitter's blue bird.  It's a major rebranding.  

Musk tweeted or should I say, X'd on Sunday (7/23/23) that the idea of changing the logo to “X” was to “embody the imperfections in us all that make us unique.”

Say bye-bye Twitter birdie and hello to X.

Who's Courting Who to France?

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be attending the “Choose France” Summit, which is set to not only unveil roughly 13 billion euros of new business investments into the country but also tout France as the market of choice for expanding businesses in Europe.

Meanwhile, they had a little meeting – not sure who's courting who. May the clean-shaven man earn whatever they are going after!

Alongside its dramatic production ramp, Tesla has been growing its global market presence in parallel. This has included founding new facilities outside its home market of the United States and entering countless new markets with its popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. 

Birdwatch Becomes Community Notes and Goes Global

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Twitter's Community Notes, which was previously known as Birdwatch, is the social media giant’s crowdsourced fact-checking system and now visible around the world. 

The feature allows users to add context to tweets and takes an open source approach toward debunking misinformation. Moderators who are part of the program can add notes to tweets to add context and users can then vote if they determine the context to be helpful. Prior to this global expansion, Community Notes were only visible to users in the U.S. Twitter plans to add moderators from other regions soon.

If Elon Musk is correct, he says it "is a gamechanger for improving accuracy on Twitter."  We'll see.

How to Buy a $44 Billion Global Social Network In Less than Two Weeks

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Well if there is one thing I love, it's speed and surprises!  When I think about people trying to secure an important client, speaker for a program, or a new employee at a company that can go on for months, for example; I shake my head in disbelief over Elon Musk's stunning move on Twitter.  How in the world did he do that?  No matter.  He did it. 

And it's official:  Twitter said (4/25/22) it has agreed to sell itself to Elon Musk in a roughly $44 billion deal that has the potential to expand the billionaire's business empire and put the world's richest man in charge of one of the world's most influential social networks.

The deal, which will take the company private, caps off a whirlwind period in which the Tesla and SpaceX CEO became one of Twitter's largest shareholders, was offered and turned down a seat on its board and bid to buy the company — all in less than a month [the actual play for the company, which included certainty with financing, took place in less than two weeks].

Twitter independent board chair Bret Taylor said in a statement, calling the deal "the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

WOW.

Today in Global Small Business: Happy Belated Mother's Day to All Moms Worldwide

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Wishing all moms a belated Happy Mother's Day.  There is no role in life that is more essential than motherhood.
• In case the world missed it, Elon Musk takes his turn on Saturday Night Live (SNL) 5/8/21.
• Apart from the reach, hyperlocal marketing provides an incredible return on investment.  It's paving the way for global marketing success.
• Quote of the week:  "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." – Elon Musk
• Brush up on your reading:  Top 10 business magazines in USA.
• How the busiest people get 'deep work' done.

Baking Muffins

"If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking [muffins] a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion." – Elon Musk

Photos courtesy:  @Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved. (Jiffy corn muffin mix turned into cranberry pecan muffins.)

Health Epidemics are a Global Risk

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At the end of January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had downplayed the risk of Novel Coronavirus, but two more weeks with it, the health epidemic instilled a new fear that caused a change of mind.

Tesla’s latest annual 10-K filing revealed a new risk to its business: “health epidemics.” In the filing, the electric automaker said its gigafactory in Shanghai was closed for a brief time as the coronavirus spread in China. “It is unknown whether and how global supply chains, particularly for automotive parts, may be affected if such an epidemic persists for an extended period of time,” the company said. “We may incur expenses or delays relating to such events outside of our control, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.”

Read more at CNBC's update and get live Novel Coronavirus updates here and here.

Elon Musk's China-Based Boring Company

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China is the future.  At least that is what Elon Musk says after he recently announced the launch of his Boring Company in China.

He’s [Elon Musk] right. Especially if this keeps up: over 90% of American companies in China say that their Chinese competition, both state and private, receive “tangible benefits” that they do not. In other words, a near plurality of American companies say they are playing on a totally uneven playing field. But herein lies the rub. They all want to be there anyway, and less than 10% have plans to leave.

There you have it.  Current tariffs on China are not enough to persuade multinationals to leave.  Discover more about how U.S. companies think China is unfair, but they don't really care.  And read the Tweet about the Boring Company.

Create an Open Space

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Ingenuity founder and CEO Amy Wilkinson explains that there are many ways that opportunities can be recognized and she feels Elon Musk represents a great example.  Wilkinson is also a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and author of The Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs. 

“Just like an architect who wants to build a building from the ground up, you're looking for an open space, a green field. An open space is often a problem, meaning problems are really great opportunities because people aren't tackling them. There's not a lot of competition, often, around solving problems.”

The idea, she goes on to say, is to look for a problem and reason by first principles.

Learn more about open space thinking and entrepreneurship (includes video).