Subversive Markets Lab LLC has filed with the SEC to launch two new ETFs designed to track major U.S. indexes while excluding companies founded, controlled, or led by Elon Musk.
The proposed funds, the Subversive Nasdaq-100 Ex-Elon Enterprises ETF (QQNE) and the Subversive S&P 500 Ex-Elon Enterprises ETF (SPNE), would mirror their respective benchmarks with one key omission.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. are the primary targets of the exclusion, with their index weight redistributed across the remaining constituents.
According to the SEC filing, the ETFs are designed for investors seeking broad U.S. equity exposure without companies they associate with what the filing describes as “corporate governance concerns, political risks, and heightened share-price volatility.”
The funds may gain their exposure through direct stock holdings, other ETFs, or derivatives, giving the manager flexibility in how it constructs each portfolio.
The filing arrives shortly after SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100 following its historic June IPO, dramatically increasing passive investors’ indirect exposure to Musk-controlled enterprises.
Millions of investors who have never purchased a single share of SpaceX are now indirectly exposed to the aerospace company through index funds and ETFs that track the Nasdaq-100.
Other Musk-controlled companies, including Neuralink and The Boring Company, remain privately held and are not included in the proposed funds’ exclusion criteria.
Under the terms outlined in the filing, QQNE will sell any holding once it is removed from the Nasdaq-100 and will not own any index constituent that meets its “excluded enterprises” criteria, with SPNE following the same approach for S&P 500 components.
Both funds will periodically review their holdings to ensure that companies later coming under Musk’s control are excluded, while newly eligible index constituents without such ties can be added over time.
The launch of these funds reflects a broader trend of thematic and values-based investing, as asset managers increasingly respond to demand from investors who want their portfolios to reflect specific preferences around leadership, governance, or political exposure.
Whether significant investor appetite exists for explicitly “ex-Elon” products remains to be seen, but the filing signals that at least one asset manager sees a commercial opportunity in the growing debate around Musk’s outsized influence across both public and private markets.
