Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s work in Washington is over.
“My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end,” Musk wrote on his platform X on Wednesday.
US regulations state that such employees are limited to 130 days of employment, which meant that Musk would have to relinquish his position by the end of May.
However, some media reports suggested that there were considerations within the circle of US President Donald Trump to extend the term by switching Musk to part-time.
Musk’s role as an adviser to Trump had already been reduced in recent weeks. Over a month ago, Musk announced that from May onwards, he would spend “significantly” less time working as Trump’s cost-cutter within the government apparatus.
Instead, he would focus more on Tesla, his electric car company, whose sales have plunged in recent weeks as a sizeable number of Tesla’s clientele appears to disapprove of Musk’s support for Trump’s policies.
On Tuesday, new passenger car registrations in the European Union for April were reported – and they rose for the first time this year, though Tesla saw new registrations drop by more than 50%, continuing its downward trend.
Musk said he would still dedicate one or two days a week to government tasks – if Trump wanted him to, which is not a given.
After he announced he would focus more on Tesla, Trump did not attempt to stop Musk, saying that “we have to let him go” so he could focus on his companies, which include SpaceX, alongside Tesla and X.
Some $160 billion saved?
Musk became the face of Trump’s cost-cutting efforts in the government, even though he did not formally lead the committee created for this purpose – the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE – as the White House noted in court documents.
On X, Musk thanked Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”
Musk claims DOGE saved approximately $160 billion. However, critics have questioned this figure, arguing that some savings were double-counted or had already been achieved prior to DOGE.
During the election campaign, Musk had spoken of plans to save $2 trillion.
Development aid annihilated
Musk’s actions in Washington made him increasingly unpopular. Another tech billionaire, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, even accused Musk of being responsible for the future deaths of millions of children in poorer countries.
Yet Musk had boasted about having eliminated the US development aid organization USAID.
Musk’s right-wing political views together with his actions in Washington are reasons why some US buyers decided not to purchase Teslas.