Macron calls Elon Musk 'oversubsidised,' sparks response from billionaire

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday stated his support for billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink called him “oversubsidised” provoking a response from the world’s richest man. 

Speaking at the Industrial Summit in the Belgian city of Antwerp, Macron also argued for a competitive approach, and for massive investment financed through joint borrowing by the EU. 

"If you look at the US, you have a lot of private money... but you have a lot of public money" too, Macron said.

"Everybody is fascinated by Starlink... But if you are lucid, Mr. Musk is probably one of the guys of the world who has had in his pockets the most... billions of dollars for the American taxpayers in order to be subsidised," he added.

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'Oversubsidised guy'

He called Musk super-innovative, calling him an oversubsidised man. "Elon Musk is first an oversubsidised guy by the federal agency in the US," he said

The French leader also emphasised that more EU debt was the only way left to complete the economic level with rival states such as the United States and China. 

Musk took to X, the social media platform owned by him and responded that Europe’s states subsidised its industries more than the US did. 

Macron contrasted small support for Tesla and SpaceX with much larger aid, saying government funding for Tesla and SpaceX is about 1 per cent of their value while for major US and European aerospace companies it "exceeds" 100 per cent.

"If you add up all the government funding Tesla and SpaceX have ever received, it is only about 1 per cent of the combined value of the companies," he said.

"In contrast, if you do that with US and European major aerospace companies, the government money they have received exceeds 100 per cent of their value!,” he added.