Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty
Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Tesla, Politics, US News
Callum Jones
Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Tesla, Politics, US News
Elon Musk has revealed where his involvement within the Trump administration will be heading amidst a decline in Tesla's profits.
Upon his return to the White House, President Donald Trump had plans to shake up the US government, with one such plan involved hiring Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut unnecessary government spending—an aim that DOGE claims it has achieved.
The SpaceX founder claimed that they've saved $65 billion so far due to various government cuts, which its site says are a 'combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions'.
However, according to various publications, these numbers haven't been easy to verify, and a report last week claimed that nearly $1 billion in savings have 'vanished' overnight.
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But the billionaire, of course, has to run car giant Tesla, too, which has also been facing some struggles, such as vandalism to vehicles and showrooms and plummeting stocks.
With all of this in mind, Musk has since revealed how he'll allocate his time going forward.
During a company earning's call, Musk has said that his time running DOGE will be reduced 'significantly' from May as he focuses on running Tesla.
He went on to say that he'll continue to spend 'day or two per week' on government issues 'for as long as the president would like me to do so' (via CNBC).
Musk's involvement in politics has caused some controversy.
Last month, Ross Gerber, one of Tesla’s earliest investors, boldly called on Musk to be replaced as the Tesla CEO amid his governmental role.
Speaking on Sky News, Gerber said: “The company's reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk.
"Sales are plummeting so, yeah, it's a crisis. You literally can't sell the best product in the market place because the CEO is so divisive.
"It's time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long."
Tesla's share price has more plummeted by more than 50 per cent since December as profits fall by a whopping $981,000,000, according to Sky News.
Apparently, Musk's role was never permanent, with the SpaceX founder's time running DOGE said to have been limited to 130 days.
Both Trump and Musk have reportedly hinted at a transition that would see the Twitter owner take a step back within government.
Fox News’ Bret Baier asked him last month whether he’d be ready to leave when his government role expires, to which Musk replied: “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame.”
The 47th POTUS then told reporters earlier this month that 'at some point Elon’s going to want to go back to his company'.