Elon Musk's Sober Outlook

The billionaire Tesla chief cast a shadow over prospects for the US economy and the Twitter deal

- By Angus Whitley

Think Elon Musk and words like “measured” or “cautious” aren’t usually the first to come to mind. But the billionaire visionary and often erratic entrepreneur struck a sober tone on June 21 as he forecast a probable recession in the US and left doubts about his commitment to a $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc.

In an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer said the electric-car maker’s workforce needs to be trimmed as supply chain snarls crimp growth. He was also unguarded in his view that the US economy is headed toward contraction. It’s just a question of when.

“A recession is inevitable at some point,” said Musk, who joined the forum via video linkup from the US. “As to whether there is a recession in the near term, that is more likely than not.”

Musk, who’s also the CEO of rocket-launch company SpaceX, was far from the jocular and sometimes edgy showman who’s a star on Twitter, with almost 100 million followers. Appearing in front of some of the Qatari backers of his planned acquisition of the social media platform, he was businesslike, measured, and respectful. At 3 a.m. New York time, Musk was dressed in a dark suit jacket and a collared white shirt.

His downbeat domestic economic outlook follows similar projections from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and economist Nouriel Roubini. Musk is also at odds with President Joe Biden, who has said he thinks a US recession isn’t inevitable.