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Elon Musk, the Rocket Man who fell to Earth
The row with Trump offers an opening for rivals to his space empire.
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The row with US President Donald Trump offers an opening for rivals to Mr Elon Musk's space empire.
PHOTOS: HAIYUN JIANG/NYTIMES, REUTERS
Lionel Laurent
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The popcorn emoji is out in force as the world’s richest person feuds with its most powerful leader. Even Mr Thierry Breton, the European regulator who was a frequent target of Mr Elon Musk’s ire, is at it.
Still, as entertaining as the billionaire’s spat with US President Donald Trump may be, it also carries costly lessons for a US$630 billion (S$811 billion) space economy dominated by Mr Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX – such is the danger of codependence between de facto monopolies and increasingly protectionist states.
