Elon Musk is fighting wars on a lot of fronts right now
The billionaire's battles span from disputes in his home life to clashes with the UK government.
Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI
- Elon Musk's conflicts range from personal disputes at home to clashes with the UK government.
- Musk is facing a custody battle, clashing with his daughter, and filing multiple lawsuits.
- The billionaire is also juggling four companies.
The last few weeks have been busy for Elon Musk.
In addition to leading four companies and stepping up his involvement in the upcoming presidential election, the billionaire is also fighting battles on a number of fronts. Musk has recently been involved in various disputes, including in his personal and professional life — and they all seemed to have escalated in the last few weeks.
Here's a closer look at some of the disputes Musk has been involved in over the last few weeks, from a custody battle with Grimes to clashes with the UK Prime Minister.
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Musk and Grimes met in court for a custody hearing in a Texas courthouse on August 2, though the courtroom was closed to the public because of "security concerns" related to the children.
The two have three children together and have been in a custody battle since September. The billionaire and the musician filed lawsuits against each other in Texas and California.
A few days prior to the hearing, Grimes' mother accused Musk of "withholding" his children from her daughter.
Musk's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment for this story from Business Insider.
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Vivian Jenna Wilson sat down for an exclusive interview with NBC News on July 25 and spoke out against her father for the first time.
The 20-year-old said Musk was a "cruel" father who was only around "maybe 10% of the time."
Wilson's response came after a series of comments Musk has made about his daughter's transition, as well as transgender laws for children under the age of 18. The billionaire said in an interview with Jordan B. Peterson that he was "tricked into" signing papers to approve the transition.
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Musk's X, formerly Twitter, filed an antitrust lawsuit in a Texas court against the World Federation of Advertisers for its Global Alliance of Responsible Media, a cross industry initiative to prevent brands from supporting harmful content. It includes over 100 members, including big-name advertisers, agency groups, and platforms.
X is accusing the group of advertisers of conspiring to "collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue" from the social media platform.
The lawsuit follows a Republican investigation into whether GARM initiative members illegally colluded to defund conservative platforms and voices.
X, WFA, and the other defendants, including Unilever, Mars, CVS, and Ørsted, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI Thursday.
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Musk has recently posted reactionary comments on X about violent protests in the UK. He mentioned in a post on X that "civil war is inevitable" below a video showing far-right unrest in the country, drawing criticism from the government.
Musk also said the UK police's response seemed "onesided" and called the UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer "two-tier Keir."
He also responded to the Prime Minister's post on X condemning attacks on Muslim communities asking, "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on all communities?"
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Musk filed another lawsuit against OpenAI and cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, accusing executives of deceiving him into confounding the company.
Musk's lawyers said the billionaire was "assiduously manipulated" by Altman and Brockman into cofounding OpenAI by selling the concept as a nonprofit that would safely build AI to benefit humanity.
Musk first sued the company and its CEO in March, accusing it of going against its mission to benefit humanity by partnering with tech giant Microsoft.
In response, OpenAI published emails between Musk and OpenAI executives revealing Musk was previously open to a for-profit pivot if it meant merging with Tesla. Musk dropped the lawsuit in June.
OpenAI did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from BI.
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X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in an email to X employees earlier this week that the company's San Francisco office would be closing, and workers would move to offices in San Jose and Palo Alto.
The move comes a few weeks after Musk announced plans to relocate X and SpaceX headquarters to Texas. The billionaire cited California laws that he said attacked "families and companies" as his reason for moving. Musk is referring to a law passed in California that prohibits "forced disclosure" policies that require schools to inform parents if their children change their gender identification.
Musk also complained on X about " dodging gangs of violent drug addicts" to get into company buildings in the city.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
Marc Piasecki
Following the approval of Musk's $55 billion pay package, Tesla missed investor expectations in its second-quarter earnings call, ramping up pressure from investors.
While Tesla reported better-than-expected revenue, its adjusted year-over-year earnings margin dropped from 18.7% to 14.4%. Its free cash flow also missed analyst expectations by over half a billion dollars, and its earnings per share fell from $0.91 a year ago to $0.52.
The Q&A portion of the earnings call included questions about the decreased revenue from vehicle sales, delays to Tesla Robotaxi day, and resource-allocation decisions between Musk's companies. Musk said the delay was due to a design change and assured investors that the company would "make great products in the future, just like we have in the past, end of story."
Musk's responses didn't seem to soothe investors, as shares dropped in after-hours trading following the call.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.