01/23/2026

Musk makes surprise appearance at Davos — here’s what he said about Greenland and Venezuela

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Topline

Musk joked about political tensions over U.S interest in Greenland and Venezuela before rehashing his futuristic vision for humanity during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos Thursday Morning, a surprise appearance that came after years of publicly disparaging the conference.

CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, South African-Canadian-US businessman Elon Musk speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. The World Economic Forum takes place in Davos from January 19 to January 23, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Musk opened his conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink by joking, “I heard about the formation of the peace summit, and I was like, ‘Is that P-I-E-C?’ … A little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela…all we want is a piece.”

Fink quickly changed the subject to Musk’s space and AI-related ventures, leading Musk to reiterate his vision for building advanced humanoid robots, which he said “everyone on earth” is going to have.

Musk shared that he might want to die on Mars, which he says is just a 3 month trip away, but “not on impact,“ drawing laughs from the audience.

When asked if he had any last words to share, Musk said, “I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future.”

Musk’s inclusion in the Davos speaker roster was a last-minute surprise that came a day after President Trump’s speech.

Musk makes surprise appearance at Davos — here’s what he said about Greenland and Venezuela

Story by Martina Di Licosa, Forbes Staff

Jan 22 • 2 min read • Updated 1d ago

Key takeaways

• Futuristic Vision: Musk discussed humanoid robots for everyone and joked about wanting to die on Mars, calling it just a 3-month trip away.
• Political Humor: He made light of U.S. interests in Greenland and Venezuela, joking about taking “a little piece” of each.
• Optimism Message: Musk encouraged the audience to stay optimistic and excited about the future, despite his past criticisms of the World Economic Forum.

This is a developing story and will be updated

Key Background

Musk has been critical of the World Economic Forum for years. In 2023, he responded to a video of the event’s opening ceremony posted to Twitter with “How is WEF/Davos even a thing?” adding, “Are they trying to be the boss of Earth!?” He went on to compare the summit to message board 4chan, which is known for being a platform for extremist points of view, joking, “There should be a game show: “4Chan or Davos, who said it?”

The year prior, Musk publicly announced that he had declined an invitation to attend the conference, calling it “boring af.” One reason for his past distaste for the yearly summit could be its viewpoint on overpopulation, which the World Economic Forum’s official X account has called “a global challenge.” Musk, who has 14 children and is an advocate for boosting world population, responded to that post with, “Population collapse is an existential problem for humanity, not overpopulation!” This year, he has yet to post about Davos to his X profile.

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