The damage inflicted on Elon Musk’s business empire by his work shaking up the federal government for President Trump is growing. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Italy was having second thoughts about striking a deal with Starlink, the satellite internet service from Musk’s SpaceX, in light of the U.S. retreat from the European alliance, while in a separate report Bloomberg said Tesla’s sales in China had fallen by half in February. The China decline may not have been related to Musk’s reputation, given the competition from other electric vehicle makers there. But it’s a big problem for Tesla, whose sales in Europe fell by half in January, a European car group reported last week. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that some Tesla owners in the U.S. are ditching the vehicles over Musk’s antics. Musk may pick up some extra business for Starlink through his Trump association: There were reports last week that the Federal Aviation Administration might ditch a deal with Verizon in favor of Starlink, although SpaceX denied those reports today. Musk’s X is, by all accounts, doing better with advertisers. Tesla seems to be ground zero for anti-Musk feeling, and notably, it’s the only public company in his empire. As of today, Tesla stock is down 31% so far this year, according to Koyfin data. https://www.bloomberg.com.. #ScholER