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It looks like Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon are one step closer to making peace amid their nearly 10-year feud

Jun 3, 2024, 16:55 IST
Business Insider
Jamie Dimon and Elon Musk in 2024.Win McNamee for Getty Images and Apu Gomes for Getty Images
  • Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon may be mending their nearly decadelong feud.
  • Their strained relationship dates back to 2016 when JPMorgan walked away from underwriting Tesla leases.
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Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon seem to be putting a nearly ten-year feud behind them.

The Tesla and JPMorgan CEOs have been throwing remarks — and lawsuits — at one another since 2016. But people familiar with the duo told The Wall Street Journal that their relationship had been better since March.

In March, Musk attended a JPMorgan technology summit in Big Sky, Montana, and the two executives spoke for an hour onstage about artificial intelligence and politics, the Journal reported. Musk also visited Dimon's suite at the resort and stayed there for more than an hour, the report added.

People familiar with the event told the Journal that afterward, Dimon decided his bank could try to go back to doing business with Musk. A patch-up would be a win-win: Musk would get access to funding and advisory from the biggest bank in the US, and JPMorgan would have a chance to work with the serial entrepreneur's many businesses.

The relationship first turned sour in 2016 when the investment bank walked away from underwriting leases for Tesla's cars. Its bankers didn't know how to value the lifespan of the electric-vehicle batteries. That apparently made Musk mad. Sources told the Journal that Musk called the bank's head of consumer banking, cursed, and threatened to pull Tesla's business. Dimon called back and said his bank wouldn't be bullied, the sources added.

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From then on, Musk really did take his business elsewhere. He has relied more on Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which were already Tesla's primary advisors. Goldman helped take the carmaker public in 2010 and was Musk's first choice when he attempted to make the company private again in 2018. Citing the financial-data company Dealogic, the Journal reported that since 2020, Goldman had been paid nearly $90 million in fees from Tesla and SpaceX, another Musk venture.

To make matters worse, JPMorgan sued Tesla and Musk over $162 million in 2021. The bank said Tesla "flagrantly" breached a 2014 contract the two companies signed relating to warrants sold to the bank. JPMorgan said Musk's tweet about taking the company private messed up the market. Tesla countersued, saying the bank was angry because it was left out of Musk's business and JPMorgan executives had "animus" toward Musk.

In November, Dimon spoke about the lawsuit at a New York Times conference and said: "We think we're owed money for something, and they say no, and it's in court, and we'll win."

Both lawsuits are ongoing.

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