Elon Musk Muses About Buying MSNBC: “How Much Does It Cost?”

Elon Musk, the billionaire who heads up SpaceX, Tesla, and X, is considering—according to a slew of memes shared on his social media platform this weekend—adding another company to that portfolio: MSNBC.

“Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!!” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X Friday, atop a post that said the news network MSNBC was for sale. “How much does it cost?” Musk replied, adding minutes later, “The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely,” with a laughing emoji.

Their posts come after the news on Wednesday that MSNBC’s parent company, Comcast, is looking to spin the network off into a modern entity that would house MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, and the Golf Channel. While it’s unclear what the future of MSNBC could look like under Comcast’s modern strategy, that didn’t stop Musk and those in his orbit from running with the idea that the billionaire would acquire the left-leaning network.

The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles replied to Trump Jr.’s post, “If you guys need a replacement for Rachel Maddow, I know a guy.” Podcaster Joe Rogan chimed in, also offering to take the place of Maddow, MSNBC’s leading anchor who has been a journalist for two decades. “If you buy MSNBC I would like Rachael Maddow’s job. I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies.”

“How amazing would this be?” Musk answered with a star-eyed emoji. “Deal,” Musk replied again a couple hours later. Fire emoji. Rocket emoji. Laughing emoji.

Musk, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, spent the next day or so sharing memes about the potential acquisition, including multiple about Maddow individually.

“The years really fly by,” Musk captioned a meme entitled “The Evolution of Rachel Maddow.” It features images of the anchor from 1990 to 2020, and the 2024 photo is of businessman Mark Cuban.

Then there’s the one where he responded to a headline from conservative Christian news satire website The Babylon Bee reading, “Musk Announces Plan To Buy MSNBC And Turn It Into A News Network,” saying, “Crazy idea, but it just might work!”

Another account posted that MSNBC’s modern owners could be Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, Rogan, and Musk—to which the X owner replied with a singular laughing emoji.