Don’t want to invest in Elon Musk? Two new ETFs explicitly exclude him

It is possible that the Ex-Elon funds may exclude other companies that become closely associated with the near-trillionaire, too. The Ex-Elon funds seek “to provide capital appreciation through exposure to a broad universe of large-capitalization U.S. equity securities, while excluding the equity securities of companies that are founded, controlled, or led by Elon Musk, or with which Mr. Musk is otherwise primarily associated,” so the document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reads. 

While these are legit funds that investors will soon be able to trade, there’s also more than a bit of tongue and cheek going on. Prior to the Ex-Elon funds, Subversive earned headlines for its other ETFs that promise to let regular folks “invest like the oligarchy.” One of those funds holds stocks known to be traded by Democratic members of Congress and their spouses, and the other mirrors those held by the Republican side of the aisle.  

It’s too early to say if investors will pile into these Ex-Elon ETFs, which have the tickers QQNE and SPNE, or if they will perform better than funds that include Musk’s companies. But they do reflect a growing appetite for ways to avoid Musk, and, given his famed hostility to traders who shorted Tesla, perhaps even annoy him a little.