February 9, 2026, 8:59 am | Readers 416 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2026 History is littered with people who reached the very top of the financial pyramid and found it a lonely, anxious place to stand. Elon Musk is often compared to Howard Hughes. For a time, he was one of the richest men in the world: aviation pioneer, Hollywood producer, defence contractor. By any external measure, he had won. Yet as his fortune grew, his world shrank. He became increasingly reclusive, paranoid, and physically unwell, retreating into sealed hotel rooms, obsessing over germs, and cutting himself off from almost everyone. His wealth gave him total control over his environment, and that control slowly consumed him. I also share the view of many that his empire is massively overvalued and that he will face a huge correction at some stage. BYD overtook Tesla recently to be the biggest-selling electric car company in the world. After the recent merger of Tesla and SpaceX, he is going all in on the AI hype. If and when the AI bubble bursts, his companies will be caught up in the crash. Five minutes browsing Elon’s Twitter feed and you soon realise he is not in a good place. If you haven’t watched it, the Elon Musk Show Documentary on iPlayer is essential viewing. His family are as odd as a bottle of chips.