Elon Musk is the wealthiest individual alive today. According to Forbes, the South African-born businessman and investor is worth a whopping $290.3 billion, placing him at the top of their 2024 Forbes 400 list, one place above Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk has his fingers in many business pies. He’s the founder of space company Space X, X Corp. (the company that bought Twitter and renamed it X), The Boring Company, artificial intelligence companies xAI and OpenAI, and neurotechnology company Neuralink, as well as the CEO of Tesla, Inc.
He’s also been one of the biggest proponents of Donald Trump’s successful bid to be reelected as the president of the United States — including financially, with millions of dollars in donations. The South African entrepreneur attended several of Trump’s campaign rallies wearing his MAGA hat and even spoke at some of them. Frankly, their bromance is the stuff of nightmares.
Fox News has long been one of the most pro-Trump entities in mainstream media. Prominent hosts on the station, such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Jesse Watters, have made no secret of their love of the unnaturally orange MAGA leader. It makes sense, therefore, given his vast wealth and love of Trump, that he might have an interest in purchasing the station — after all, the ability to control what news comes out about the president-elect would be a dream come true for both of them.
Therefore, it was more than believable when a rumor began circulating about Musk buying Fox News. But has Musk actually purchased the New York City-based multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website?
Does Elon Musk own Fox News?
Simply put, no, Elon Musk has not bought Fox News.
The rumor gained much traction when a video was uploaded to Wealth Up’s YouTube channel. The 34-minute piece, titled “Elon Musk: “I Just Officially Bought Fox News!”,” made it explicitly seem as though the multi-billionaire had purchased the station, literally including a fake quote from him in its title.
However, the video does nothing more than envisage a hypothetical scenario in which the world awakens to discover Musk has purchased it, much to the imagined delight of thousands of MAGA cultists who love to scream “FAKE NEWS” worldwide.
The video’s description describes it as follows:
“You’re scrolling through your feed when suddenly, the unthinkable happens. Elon Musk, the man behind electric cars and Mars missions, has just bought Fox News. Is this reality or some bizarre dream? Welcome to a world where the lines between tech and media blur faster than a SpaceX rocket launch. What happens when the visionary behind Tesla takes control of one of America’s most influential news networks? Fox News viewers are panicking, Silicon Valley is buzzing, and the entire media landscape is bracing for impact. Are we witnessing the birth of a new era in news or the start of a billionaire’s media takeover? Tune in to discover how this shocking deal could change the way you consume information forever.”
Fox News is already stomach-churningly pro-Trump as it is. With the orange one’s bromancer-in-chief at its helm, it would become categorically vomit-inducing. The very existence of this rumor speaks to a greater problem plaguing the current landscape of news media, in which factually incorrect information is often reported as truth and then gobbled up by millions of people who accept it at face value; worse yet, it often leads to scenarios wherein recipients of this “news” deny the credibility of those who fact-check them with credible sources, thus creating a culture where “fact-checking” has become a sort of buzz word thrown around with negative connotations.
Thank goodness the rumor was nothing more than that — though we wouldn’t put it past Musk to make a bid for the station at some point soon. According to CompaniesMarketcap.com, the entire Fox Corporation has a value of $19.67 billion, meaning Musk could buy it many times over, and do with it what he will. Heaven forbid.
Published: Nov 8, 2024 02:59 pm