Tesla CEO Elon Musk and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon haven’t been on good terms lately, but that appears to be changing, in line with Wall Street Journal.
Any improvement of their relationship could allow the most important bank by market capitalization to do more business with billionaire Musk or his corporations, which include SpaceX and social media platform X. In the meantime, Musk could tap into JPMorgan’s extensive capital and services offerings.
But the battle between the 2 economic giants reportedly became very heated in 2016. At that point, JPMorgan rejected Musk’s request to take over leasing contracts for Tesla’s electric cars on the grounds that the valuation of the batteries, the WSJ said.
Musk called the bank, yelled on the then head of retail banking and threatened to shut down Tesla’s business banking business, sources told WSJwith one saying Musk ended his rant with “F— you.” That infuriated Dimon, who told Musk that JPMorgan wouldn’t be intimidated, the report said.
A JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment. Assets. Tesla didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Relations soured when JPMorgan sued Tesla in 2021, claiming it owed the corporate money for a trade the bank arranged in 2014. Tesla countersued, and the lawsuits are still pending.
But the WSJ indicated signs of a thaw: In November, Dimon called Musk a “brilliant human being” who was making “incredible contributions to humanity.” In January Musk complimented Dimon in a tweet after the bank chief said Donald Trump was right in regards to the economy, immigration and China.
And in March, Musk appeared at a JPMorgan technology event at a resort in Montana and spoke with Dimon on stage for an hour. He then stopped by Dimon’s suite, where they spoke for an additional hour. Afterward, sources told the WSJ that Dimon had decided that JPMorgan could attempt to do business with Musk again.
Meanwhile, Musk is searching for more allies on Wall Street and within the capital markets.
He is trying to achieve shareholder support for his historic, heavily criticized $47 billion severance package from Tesla.
In addition, Musk’s AI company xAI is in search of investors and raised $6 billion in a enterprise capital round last month, giving the startup, which is lower than a yr old, $18 billion.
