The name of Elon Musk has topped the headlines in recent hours, as his companies were held responsible Thursday for a missile explosion in Texas , the turmoil of financial markets from New York to Paris, and the loss of world celebrities, including Pope Francis, to document their accounts on Twitter.

These three events, brought together by none other than Elon Musk, demonstrate the unprecedented influence wielded by one of the richest men on the planet.

“Very few people in the world get as much attention as Elon Musk, and no one else has generated so much news about him since Donald Trump ,” said Andrew Celebak, a professor of media at the University of Florida .

The South African-born billionaire, who holds US and Canadian citizenship, co-founded six companies (including SpaceX, Tesla, and Norlink) and runs several companies, including Twitter, which he bought last October for $44 billion.

"Usually, the general manager is supposed to be the mature person in the group, who keeps things in order," says independent analyst Rob Enderle. "But Musk is the opposite, he lacks maturity and often derails things."

It began on Thursday in the United States with the explosion of a prototype missile "Starship" four minutes after take-off.

This developed rocket from "SpaceX" is the largest and most powerful in the world. And a modified version of it will transport humans to the moon with the US space agency (NASA) by 2025, and perhaps one day, to Mars.

Despite the craft's failure to separate from the launchpad, which led to the decision to detonate it, Elon Musk has praised his teams for their role in running the "fantastic" first test flight.

At the same time, the European markets closed Thursday after a chaotic day due to the disappointing results of Tesla, whose price cut policy reflected a decline in its quarterly profits.

From the Paris Stock Exchange to New York, these results affected the entire auto sector, with reverberations across other sectors. "Tesla has dragged non-essential consumer goods with it" in this downward spiral, said Art Hogan of B. Riley Management.

At the same time, Twitter has weathered a new storm: after months of procrastination, the platform has withdrawn from thousands of accounts the blue verification marks that for years had served as a guarantee of the accounts' authenticity and the reputation of their owners.

Donald Trump, Beyoncé, Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Twitter), and even Pope Francis have lost their blue tick, as have many other personalities and journalists.

The blue tick now refers to users who pay $8 a month to get this badge and other benefits (increased account visibility, tech perks, less ads), like Donald Trump Jr. or the Dalai Lama.

The date of April 20 was not chosen at random to implement this step, as this date in its American formula (4/20) symbolizes cannabis in the United States. And Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, has been making jokes about it, to the extent that he bought the platform at $54.20 a share.

Elon Musk, 51, has become a central figure in the new American capitalism, with his trans-planetary ambitions, anti-WALK political views (the Awakening, a progressive faction of the American left) and his seemingly unfunny jokes that either pleased or angered his 135 followers. million on Twitter.

Musk, says Andrew Celebak, "went from low-profile entrepreneur, to tech superstar, to billionaire playboy in the industry. Now he's pretty much replaced Donald Trump as Twitter's main troll."

But negative publicity is not profitable for Musk. According to Forbes magazine, which closely follows great fortunes, Elon Musk lost more than $11 billion on Thursday.
In addition to their owner, these companies play an important role in society, from environmental issues to space exploration, global stock markets and politics.

Musk has been targeted by several authorities concerned about wrongdoing, including the spread of misinformation on Twitter or accusations of racial discrimination at Tesla.

Several investors want Musk to focus his attention on the problems plaguing his two main companies, Tesla and SpaceX.

But Elon Musk recently founded X.AI, a new artificial intelligence startup tasked with "trying to understand the nature of the universe," Musk explained in an interview on Fox News.

"There is always a problem when the president of a company becomes more interested in fame than leadership," says Rob Enderle, considering that Musk "begins to think that he can do everything."