After supporting US President Donald Trump during his election campaign, Elon Musk was appointed to lead a new federal advisory body called the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge).
But now the Tesla boss has pledged to "significantly" step back from his role in the US government after his car firm reported a huge drop in profit and sales.
Musk was appointed to the Government after Trump’s inauguration in January, and has led the newly created advisory body, which is responsible for efficiency - looking specifically at how to cut US spending and jobs.
Now it seems his time in the role could soon be coming to a close, after Musk announced that his "time allocation to Doge" would "drop significantly" in the coming weeks, from the start of May. He added that he would only be spending one to two days per week on the Doge role "as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it's useful".
Musk’s political involvement has sparked protests and boycotts of Tesla cars around the world and on Tuesday, April 22, the firm reported a 20 per cent drop in car sales for the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year, while profits fell more than 70 per cent.
It is just one casualty of the Doge, which was formed by one of Trump's early executive orders. Doge is often mistakenly called a government department. However, such departments can be created only through an act of Congress.
Instead, Doge operates in an advisory capacity, with at least four employees assigned to each government agency.
Here’s a closer look at what this advisory body is and the powers the world’s richest man holds.
What is Doge?
Doge stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. However, it is believed to have been intentionally abbreviated to tie into Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency in which Musk is thought to have investments.
There were initial concerns that the creation of Doge could influence the value of Dogecoin, with some alleging that it could result in market manipulation.
Doge's mission is focused on IT upgrades aimed at improving government efficiency. The executive order mandates that it must complete its work by July 2026.
Its staff are mainly young professionals, many of whom have a background in tech, reflecting the same trends seen in Musk’s other companies, such as Tesla and X.
Is Elon Musk a US government employee?
Although Musk initially stated that he would take on the role as a volunteer, the White House later confirmed that he was working as an unpaid special government employee. This designation applies to individuals who work for the government for 130 days or fewer per year.
The outsider nature of Musk and the Doge department reportedly aligns with its purpose: identifying inefficiencies within the government.
What has Elon Musk done in the role so far?
Doge’s goal is to improve efficiency and save the government money, with Musk initially claiming he hoped to save $2 trillion (£1.59 billion) — an estimate he later reduced.
It is hard to judge how much money Doge has saved so far. However, Musk has made unverified claims about the department’s achievements on X.
He has claimed that Doge representatives have been assigned to various departments to monitor spending. Trump said the department had identified "fraud and abuse", without providing specific examples or evidence.
Musk also said that his team had "saved taxpayers over $1 billion (£790 million) in crazy DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] contracts".
The US has also reduced funding to USAid, America's primary foreign aid organisation, a decision attributed to Doge. However, a judge later ordered the funding cuts to be reversed.
Additionally, a buyout offer was made to two million government employees as part of an effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
Most recently, Musk made headlines by announcing on X that an email would be sent to federal employees to highlight their achievements while at work.
Why is Musk stepping back from Doge?
The role was always expected to be finite and have a time frame applied to it. Musk was meant to come in on an advisory role, to make savings and recommendations, and then when the country was deemed by the President to be in more order, for the mogul to step back.
The numbers from Tesla this week could be the driving force behind that, with a lot of the work Musk wanted to get done while in the US Government reportedly almost done.
In an announcement over the fall in profits, Tesla warned investors that the financial struggle could continue, declining to offer a growth forecast for the coming months and year, instead saying "changing political sentiment" could meaningfully hurt demand.
The tech boss contributed more than a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump's re-election and his political involvement has sparked protests and boycotts of Tesla around the world.
He blamed the "blowback" on people who would "try to attack me and the Doge team", calling his work at Doge "critical" and saying that "getting the government house in order is mostly done".
