> Of course he did. He put his own money and reputation on the line for both businesses.
This describes an investor, not a genius founder/engineer. Also, IIRC his reputation was pretty low key before he got involved in Tesla. Not sure how meaningful "putting his reputation on the line" was at the time.
The backlash against Musk was also already growing long before Twitter. Between constantly over-promising and under-delivering regarding Tesla, wacky ideas like the hyper loop, and his social media antics (pedo guy, taking Tesla private for $420) his image was already taking quite a hit.
If you think he's just an investor then you are grossly ignorant into the roles Elon has at his companies - he is the epitome of hands on. You don't will multiple, entirely new industries into existence by sitting on ass throwing piles of money at random people.
Good grief.
He is an investor and marketer who wants to be a seen as a genius techie, which he clearly isn't. Hence his fake titles such as "Tesla Founder" (he wasn't) or "SpaceX Chief Technology Officer" (he isn't) or "Technoking" (I'm sorry?)
There's a reason he was lauded before this Twitter/X debacle.