New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used SpaceX's historic IPO — and founder Elon Musk's newly minted status as a trillionaire — to push policy.
"Reason #1,000,000,000,000 why we should tax the rich," Mamdani wrote on X in response to Musk becoming the world's first trillionaire on Friday.
Musk reached the financial milestone after SpaceX stock popped upon hitting the market on Friday, trading at $150 per share, above the company's initial offering of $135.
Already the world's richest man, the windfall put Musk leagues ahead of the next richest person, Google's Larry Page, who now has a quarter of Musk's wealth.
Mamdani's response was in line with his politics. The progressive New York City mayor campaigned on taxing the rich, and the city's new pied-à-terre tax on multimillion-dollar second homes sparked backlash from some rich residents.
Musk has spoken out against Mamdani and backed his challenger, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the New York mayoral race last year.
Mamdani has said that he and Musk share one goal: focusing on efficiency and eliminating waste. Mamdani last month announced he was launching a Commission on Government Efficiency, essentially New York City's answer to the Musk-led DOGE office in the White House.
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Kelsey is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news as well as stories about travel, luxury, and consulting.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was also included on Longreads' and Pocket's best of 2022 lists. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her work. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster on Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot fall on America's highest peakThrifting is more popular than ever. It's also never been worse.Rolex wouldn't service the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers say it happens all the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the climate crisis are changing how guitars are made, and shifting the course of music historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dead children remain buried in the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas minister who helps fly dozens of women to New Mexico every month to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the great outdoors, but the air pollution is so bad, it's forcing many to stay insideInside Kabul: An aid worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan
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