You’re here CEO Elon Musk and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon haven’t been on speaking terms in recent years, but that appears to be changing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Any improvement in their relationship could pave the way for the largest bank by market capitalization to do more business with billionaire Musk or his constellation of companies, which also include EspaceX and social media platform X. Meanwhile, Musk could tap JPMorgan’s large offering of capital and services.
But the clash of the business titans would have been very difficult around 2016. That’s when JPMorgan rejected Musk’s request that the bank underwrite leases for Tesla’s electric vehicles, citing uncertainty as to how to valorize batteries, the WSJ said.
Musk called the bank, yelled at the head of consumer banking at the time and threatened to end Tesla’s commercial banking business, sources told the WSJ, with one saying Musk ended his rant with “F— you.” This angered Dimon, who told Musk that JPMorgan would not be bullied, according to the report.
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment. Fortune. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Relations deteriorated when JPMorgan sued Tesla in 2021, claiming it was owed money for a transaction the bank helped arrange in 2014. Tesla countersued and the lawsuits are still pending.
But the WSJ highlighted signs of a thaw: In November, Dimon called Musk a “brilliant human being” who is making “incredible contributions to humanity.” In January, Musk complimented Dimon in a tweet after the bank boss declared that Donald Trump was right on the economy, immigration and China.
And in March, Musk showed up at a JPMorgan tech event at a resort in Montana and spoke with Dimon on stage for an hour, then stopped by Dimon’s suite where they talked for another hour. Subsequently, sources told the WSJ that Dimon decided that JPMorgan might try to do business with Musk again.
Meanwhile, Musk is looking for other allies on Wall Street and in the capital markets.
He is trying to win shareholder support for his historic project A remuneration of 47 billion dollars of Tesla, which attracted strong criticism.
Elsewhere, Musk’s AI company xAI is seeking investors and raised $6 billion during a venture capital round last month that put a startup less than a year old at $18 billion.
