Elon Musk, the head of DOGE and CEO of several companies, admitted on Monday that he is managing his businesses “with great difficulty” as Tesla shares experienced their worst drop in five years. Speaking in an interview with Fox Business, Musk acknowledged that Tesla had seen a significant decline in stock value, losing over 50% of its market capitalization, which amounts to nearly $800 billion. Despite the challenges, Musk reassured his followers on X that the long-term outlook for Tesla remains positive.
Musk also touched on his role in the Trump administration, where he leads the Department of Government Efficiency. The department is working to streamline federal spending and reduce government employee numbers. Tesla’s stock has continued to decline each week since Musk assumed this role, prompting concerns among some investors.
Musk stated that DOGE currently has over 100 staff members across various government agencies, with plans to potentially expand this number to 200. He predicted that DOGE’s efforts could save up to $1 trillion, though some critics have questioned the accuracy of this estimate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal government reduced its workforce by 10,000 jobs in February under Musk’s initiative.
During the interview, Musk acknowledged the challenges of managing multiple businesses, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and X. He humorously admitted, “I’m just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud,” and emphasized that their savings efforts have already exceeded $4 billion a day.
Musk also addressed the technical difficulties experienced by X, attributing the outages to a “massive cyberattack” originating from IP addresses in Ukraine, although he did not provide concrete evidence for the claim. Musk also became embroiled in controversy when he referred to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona as a “traitor” after Kelly posted about his visit to Ukraine. The exchange escalated as Kelly defended his stance, emphasizing the importance of defending freedom against Russian aggression.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1898473286075568281
This incident occurred as the Trump administration continues to pressure Ukraine to consider a ceasefire with Russia, with proposals that could involve significant political and territorial compromises.