Is Musk a tech-era GE—or a modern Gilded Age power broker?

[madmax]

Some scholars argue Elon Musk’s rise resembles less a classic corporate conglomerate and more a modern version of Gilded Age power consolidation. Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie likens Musk to figures like John D. Rockefeller, who used wealth, influence, and loose regulation to shape entire industries.

While Musk’s companies increasingly collaborate — from Tesla batteries powering AI data centers to shared investments in xAI — critics warn that merging them could trigger a “conglomerate discount” and invite regulatory scrutiny. As Musk spends heavily to influence politics and regulation shifts globally, the long-term question is whether public opinion and regulators will ultimately curb his growing power, as they did with earlier industrial titans.