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The situation of Tesla and X plummeting, Starship rocket tests have failed in a row are problems waiting for Musk to handle when returning to business.

On May 28, billionaire Elon Musk announced his retirement from his role as an adviser to President Donald Trump’s administration, after taking on the task of leading efforts to reform and cut federal spending through the Government Performance Board (DOGE).

Musk parted ways with the White House due to regulations, the position of “special government employee” (SGE) that Musk was appointed was only allowed to work a maximum of 130 days within 365 days, that is, until the end of last month. In addition, the billionaire left Washington after a tumultuous period in government, under a lot of political pressure, according to experts.

Now, when Musk returns to focus on running businesses, he will have a series of problems to deal with.

Restoring Tesla sales

Tesla’s profit fell 71% in the first quarter, shortly after BYD (China) became the world’s largest electric vehicle seller. The European market has also been unsatisfactory recently, with April sales falling by half. The big question now is whether Musk’s departure from Washington will help attract buyers back.

This is a vital issue for Tesla in the context of many unstable factors piling up. Its product line has begun to become obsolete, while foreign competitors are becoming more and more competitive, ready to seize market share.

The reason for the sharp decline in sales in the first quarter is said to be the decision to close the factory to upgrade the best-selling Model Y, along with a number of other temporary problems. However, experts and investors are particularly concerned about the lingering consequences of Elon Musk’s deep involvement in American politics, which may continue to damage Tesla’s image and business in the coming time.

JP Morgan recently warned of “unprecedented brand damage”. Wedbush Securities said that Tesla is in a “comprehensive crisis”. Last week, a group of small investors sent a letter to Tesla’s board asking Musk to spend at least 40 hours a week repairing the company’s “plummeting global reputation.”

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Deploying driverless taxis

Elon Musk has been promoting driverless taxis (robotaxi) for more than a decade. He plans to test the first 10 or 20 in Austin, Texas this month and claims to have hundreds of thousands of robotaxis by the end of next year.

“Can you sleep in our car and wake up at your destination?” the billionaire asked investors during the conference in April and replied: “I believe it will be available in many US cities later this year.”

Since he made this statement, Tesla shares have risen 50%, reflecting investors who believe Musk will make it. But in reality, Musk still faces many challenges with this service.

Last month, federal safety regulators asked Telsa to provide data on how robotaxis perform in conditions of limited visibility. The request comes after an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with fully self-driving software but caused a number of accidents, including one that killed a pedestrian.

Even if the experiment in Austin went smoothly, Musk still had to compete with Waymo. The driverless taxi company owned by Alphabet has just recorded its 10 millionth trip, operating in San Francisco and several other cities.

Save ad revenue for X

After Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and relaxed content censorship, longtime advertisers on the platform began fleeing. He made the situation worse by threatening to stigmatize and sue them.

Advertisers are still pulling back even as some big brands continue to spend on X, either to please the Trump administration or to avoid potential retaliation from Musk, according to online marketing analyst Jasmine Enberg.

“But fear is not a sustainable driver and most are spending less than they used to,” she said. Jasmine Enberg forecasts X’s advertising business to recover this year but still smaller than before Musk’s acquisition.

Successful Starship rocket test

It is difficult to accurately assess SpaceX’s situation because Elon Musk’s private rocket company does not publicly disclose its financial statements. However, recent news shows both success and limitations.

On the plus side, investors who were lucky enough to have access to SpaceX’s internal financial information were extremely excited, according to the AP. The company’s private funding round a few months ago and a recent private equity sale valued SpaceX at $350 billion, up sharply from an estimate of $210 billion a year ago.

In contrast, technical efforts still face many challenges. On May 28, SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded in the Indian Ocean sky during its ninth test. This is the third explosion this year, after two failures caused the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to suspend the licensing of the Starship program for nearly two months.

Musk announced that he would continue to experiment in the coming time. Pressure is mounting on SpaceX as NASA expects to use Starship for lunar missions, including orbital flights scheduled for next year, before sending four astronauts back to Earth.

Coverage development for Starlink

Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet provider, is actively expanding its overseas markets. But it’s hard to discern what constitutes pure business development and political advantage, which may disappear when Musk leaves Washington.

During a trip with President Trump to Saudi Arabia, Elon Musk announced that the country had approved Starlink service for the aviation and maritime industry. This result follows a series of agreements in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Lesotho in recent months.

Next, Starlink is likely to be present in South Africa, after the country’s regulator relaxes regulations on foreign business ownership, creating conditions for Starlink to enter the market.