JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Tesla chief Elon Musk, once adversaries in a prolonged legal battle, have settled their differences, the banker told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday.
“Elon and I have hugged it out,” Dimon said, while praising Musk for running multiple high-profile companies such as Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink. “The guy is our Einstein.”
The biggest US lender had sued Tesla in 2021, kicking off a drawn-out dispute that was at least in part tied to Musk’s infamous 2018 tweet where he said he had “funding secured” to take the EV giant private, only to abandon that plan a few weeks later.
Tesla countersued the bank in 2023, but both the companies dropped their claims against each other in November last year.
Dimon also supported the Musk-led initiative to cut what the Trump administration views as government excesses.
Dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” the group is expected to carry out dramatic cuts to the government and has goals of eliminating entire federal agencies and cutting government jobs. The group has attracted lawsuits challenging its operations.
No big M&A
Dimon said JPMorgan was not planning on doing a big acquisition in the near future.
“Some of those (previous deals) were done to help the United States at the time. They weren’t necessarily done for JPMorgan,” he said.
The lender bought First Republic Bank out of receivership after it failed in 2023.
He also noted tariffs implemented for national security reasons outweigh inflation concerns.
“If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it,” Dimon said.
President Trump has said he could impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Feb. 1.
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