2 weeks Ago By Thomas Claburn
Government fixer Elon Musk says his days steering the Trump-blessed cost-trimming, data-scouring DOGE unit are all but done. During Tesla's Q1 earnings call with Wall Street on Tuesday, Musk, in his role as CEO of the lately less popular electric car and robot corp, said he'll be spending a lot less time doing work for the White House. "Starting next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly.
I'll have to continue doing it for the remainder of the president's term, just to make sure that the waste and fraud we stopped does not come roaring back, which it will do if it has the chance," Musk said on the call. My time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly ..
. Starting next month I'll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla "So I think I'll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so, and as long as it is useful. But starting next month I'll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla, now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done.
" The SpaceX oligarch is known for setting expectations rather high, and falling short , so take the above with a pinch of salt. As we pointed out earlier, his promise to cut $2 trillion in US government spending actually came in at about $150 billion, and may in reality be less than that. Uncle Sam goes through about $7 trillion a year.
DOGE – short for the non-department Department of Government Efficiency, a sophomoric riff on a cryptocoin boosted by Musk's attention – was created by an executive order in January that renamed the US Digital Service, an organization under the executive office of the President rather than Congress. The unit has been responsible for recommending unpopular layoffs and contract cancellations throughout the US government. Though notionally run by acting administrator Amy Gleason , Musk has been helming the cost-cutting operation to the detriment of his public image .
The team has noticeably put regulators that oversee Musk's businesses – SpaceX and Tesla primarily – into the wood chipper, raising complaints of conflicts of interest. DOGE's greatest hits during this period include: An IT rampage at the National Labor Relations Board, leading to a Russian IP address attempting to connect in with the correct credentials, according to a whistleblower; reported careless use of AI; controversial access to Treasury systems; cutting staff at the agency that regulates vehicle safety and has taken numerous actions against Tesla; reportedly getting its hands on a sensitive immigrant database at the Dept of Justice; and data access at various government agencies that violated privacy rules . And so on.
.. Musk may have had little choice in terms of timing.
As a "special government employee," Musk is allowed to hold his position for 130 days . If counted from the January 20 creation of DOGE, Musk's appointment would end no later than May 30. Tesla investors, who have ridden the automaker's stock downward in recent months, appear to be heartened by the news.
The share price rose in after-hours trading as Musk made his announcement, despite the biz missing Wall Street's expectations on both revenue and net income. With car sales down 20 percent in terms of revenues, and profit down 71 percent, we can see why Musk – who also publicly called Trump's tariff guru a "moron" – suddenly wants to focus on Tesla rather than DOGE. ®.
