Elon Musk said he plans to dramatically scale back his work for the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) starting in May and turn his attention more fully to automaker Tesla, which just reported a 71% drop in net profit for the first quarter.
“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, and as long as it is useful. But starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” Musk said in opening remarks at an audiocast Q&A after the March quarter numbers.
The billionaire, who is the world’s richest individual, according to Forbes, noted blowback against his role at DOGE, a new entity launched by Donald Trump to unearth what it says are billions of dollars of fraud and abuse in government. Tesla sales have been slumping in the U.S. and abroad and there have been ongoing incidents of vehicles being vandalized. Tesla showrooms have been targeted by protestors as DOGE has gutted federal departments and agencies, resulting in thousands of layoffs and glitches in critical services. Many DOGE initiatives are being challenged in courts in multiple lawsuits.
A report in early April by job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said more than 280,000 layoffs across 27 agencies over previous two months were linked to DOGE efforts.
“There’s been some blowback for time [spent] in government with the Department of Government Efficiency or Doge. I think the work that we’re doing there is actually very important to rein in the deficit that is leading our country … to destruction. And the DOGE team has made a lot of progress in addressing waste and fraud. But [there’s] a natural blowback from … those who were receiving the wasteful dollars and the fraudulent dollars.”
They “will try to attack me and anything associated with me,” he said.
He said he thinks much of the heavy lifting at DOGE is done, allowing “my time allocation … to drop significantly.” He said he will continue to be involved in DOGE likely for “the remainder of the President’s term, just make sure that the waste and fraud that we stopped does not come roaring back.”
He reassured Tesla shareholders, who have knocked the stock lower this year, that despite the weak quarter the company has “been through many near death experiences … and this is not one of those times … not even close.”
He also called tariffs implemented by the Trump administration on U.S. global trading partners “tough” on the company.
Many U.S. cars and even more auto parts come from overseas.
“I just want to emphasize that the tariff decision is entirely up to the president of the United States. I will weigh in with my advice, with the president. He will listen to my advice, but then it’s up to him to make this decision. I’ve been on the record many times as saying that I believe lower tariffs are generally a good idea for prosperity, but this decision is finally up to the elected representative of the people, being the president of the United States. So, I’ll continue to advocate for lower tariffs rather than higher tariffs, but that’s all I can do.”
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