It’s been a rocky few weeks for Elon Musk – despite his new BFF, Donald Trump, preparing to take the White House.

Musk has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and has landed himself a role in the new President’s cabinet as a result. He reportedly even spent a great deal of time post-US election ‘camped out’ at Mar-a-Lago in order to be close to the president-elect.

Which must have made for some awkward dinner conversation when 37-year-old US Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger detonated a homemade bomb inside a Cyber Truck outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.

Although, whether Livelsberger’s actions were any kind of political statement is difficult to say.

“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” said Spencer Evans, the Las Vegas FBI’s special agent in charge of investigating the case.

Then, there was the controversy around Musk’s online commentary on the scandal around Britain’s child grooming gangs.

Now, another blow for Musk as Europe’s largest pension fund sells its entire Tesla $TSLA stake – amounting to $585 million worth of shares.

According to a spokesperson for Dutch firm Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the company “had a problem” with Musk’s pay package – a potential $56 billion and voted against it in June.

Although, the chances of Musk actually getting this is still up in the air after Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled it to be unreasonable.

, the company’s working conditions were also a major factor in APB selling its shares – although the fund’s specific gripes with Tesla’s labour conditions were not listed.

 were not to blame for ABP divesting their interest.

A refresher: Musk has been vocal in support of Europe’s anti-immigrant and anti-establishment parties, parties voicing similar rhetoric to Trump.

So it’s a moral stance of sorts, but not that much of one, and perhaps one mostly motivated by saving money and not having to pay Musk a massive chunk of wonga.

It doesn’t seem that ABP is overly bothered about cutting Tesla loose. A spokesperson said they’re already receiving reliable, long-term returns through its stock portfolio made up of dozens of companies on each continent, while almost 70 percent of its other remaining assets are divided among corporate bonds, real estate, private equity and commodities.

"We cannot and do not need to invest in everything” an ABP spokesperson told the 

, while reiterating that the decision was not politically motivated.

ABP is reported to have €533 billion in assets under management, or thereabouts, and is Europe’s largest publicly managed fund. Chief among its responsibilities at home is financing a pay-as-you-go pension scheme accessed by as many as one in six Dutch citizens.

At the end of September it had a €5.6 billion in the chip company Nvidia, with €6.0 billion and €6.3 billion positions in Microsoft and Apple respectively. And in fact, its interest in Tesla was only around a tenth of what it has in other American megacaps – stocks with a capitalisation or market value over $200 billion.

As for Tesla itself, well, it’s unlikely to be too worried. The company is valued at around $1.27 trillion, with its stock rising roughly 74% in the past year.

The Dutch like Tesla, too. Tesla's Model Y was the best-selling car in the Netherlands in 2024, despite Tesla sales declining in Europe overall, and new Tesla registrations falling more than 15 percent from January to November 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Still, with Musk cosying up to a US government that looks set to share its hands-off, libertarian approach to doing business, these figures are only likely to get larger – and it’s likely that any added success in the US will spill out to over territories.

Musk’s compensation package has had a more storied journey. A performance-based compensation plan was voted in by Tesla’s board and shareholders in 2018, but not everyone was happy about it; one shareholder sued the company, and Musk, arguing that Musk had influenced the board members, one of whom is his brother.

This led to the January 2024 ruling to scrap Musk’s package. A second vote in June reversed this, leading to shareholder approval of Musk's pay. ABP voted against the pay package at the time, calling it "controversial and exceptionally high.”

The back and forth continues, with the same Delaware judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick once again voting against the package in December, ruling that Tesla’s internal vote wasn’t legally enough to allow the package to be paid.

Don’t cry for Musk just yet. “Elon Musk stands to get even richer off this UK government plan” 

This comes as Tesla is reportedly due a “bumper pay day” under Britain’s scheme to boost EV production – despite Musk’s public feud with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Following the Labour victory in the UK General Election last July, Musk wrote to the new government, asking them to tighten zero emissions vehicle rules, making consumers pay more for petrol-guzzling cars.

Already, the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate is forcing carmakers to transition away from petrol and diesel vehicles more rapidly than in any European Union country – a significant win in the battle against climate change. At present, carmakers who don't make the shift have to pay fines of £15,000 per combustion car sold.

Tesla advocated for the rules to be extended to trucks, making an opening for its own vehicles to roll into.

“[The] Government should begin consulting on a ZEV mandate for [heavy goods vehicles], as soon as possible,” Tesla’s letter to Labour’s roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, argued.

How much Musk stands to gain is yet to be confirmed, but if similar policies are enacted across multiple countries, ABP’s backing may soon look like small fry.

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