50jili Elon Musk Is on a Lot of Billionaires’ Minds

Elon Musk is not in the DealBook Summit speaker lineup, but his presence is unmistakable.

Even some billionaires and political leaders are marveling at the tech mogul’s reach, access to the levers of power, and staggering wealth.

Ken Griffin, the founder and chief executive of Citadel, called Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, “one of the great entrepreneurs of our lifetime.” Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, described him as a “mega hero.” And former President Bill Clinton saw Mr. Musk’s growing influence in President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle as a sign of the times.

“It’s no big deal,” Mr. Clinton said of Mr. Musk joining a phone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

Mr. Musk is running his businesses at “a level of excellence that very few companies can even start to relate to,” Mr. Griffin said, adding that he was all the more impressed at Mr. Musk’s deepening relationship with the next Trump administration. The president-elect has designated Mr. Musk, Trump’s biggest backer, to help lead a so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“I think that his willingness to be in this role that involves such a commitment of his time in public service is something that I applaud and admire,” Mr. Griffin said.

But Mr. Griffin, one of the five largest donors to the Republican Party this last campaign cycle, just behind Mr. Musk, had his reservations about Mr. Musk’s new role aimed at curbing excess government spending.

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