Elon Musk says he is leaving the Trump administration. This is after helping to lead a tumultuous drive to shrink the size of the U.S government, which saw thousands of federal job losses.
In a post on his social media platform, X, the world’s richest man thanked President Trump for the opportunity given him to help run the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.
The South African-born tech tycoon had been designated as a “special government employee” – allowing him to work a federal job for 130 days, each year.
When measured from President Trump’s inauguration on the 20th of January, he is due to have hit that limit, about now.
Musk’s departure from the Trump administration comes a day after he said he was “disappointed” with the President’s budget bill, which proposes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a boost in defence spendings.
Reports say Musk’s quick and unceremonious exit from the temporary role is not unexpected after his tenure overlapped with a significant decline in sales at his electric car company.
DOGE currently estimates its efforts have saved $175 billion (£130bn) so far, a number which is not able to be independently verified.
An estimated 260,000 out of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce have had their jobs cut or accepted redundancy deals as a result of Doge.
