'A star is born' From Tesla to X - and now a major role in government - Musk wins big

Hours before it became official that Donald Trump had returned to the White House, his biggest supporter already seemed to be inside the Oval Office.

- Dan Milmo

Elon Musk, a key backer of Trump's return to the presidency, was in his default wind-up mode as he used his X platform to post a superimposed picture of himself holding a sink - inside the seat of US power. "Let that sink in," he wrote.

It was amateurish, but Musk's contribution to Trump's victory has been serious and will reap benefits for the world's richest person.

Trump acknowledged Musk in his victory speech yesterday, even if it required prompting from the audience, and indicated that Musk would be well-treated under his administration. "We have to protect our geniuses. We don't have that many of them," said Trump.

Musk, who is worth $264bn (£205bn), can easily afford the more than $100m he has given to Trump's campaign via his Super Pac. There were immediate signs of a return on that investment yesterday morning. Shares in Tesla, the electric car maker that Musk leads as CEO and in which he owns a 13% stake, were up about 15% in pre-trading on Wall Street, implying a wealth gain of $15bn for Musk. There could be more to come. Dan Ives, an analyst at the US financial firm Wedbush Securities, said a Trump victory could add up to $200bn to the value of Tesla, which would increase Musk's wealth by about $26bn.