Elon Musk had been the face of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of government.
More recently, however, the billionaire has said he intends to return his focus to the companies that helped make him the world’s richest man.
“Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform, X, on Saturday. The site had just grappled with widespread outages.
“I must be super focused on 𝕏/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”
The comment followed a similar statement Musk made last month during a Tesla earnings call.
“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 so, and for as long as it is useful, but starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla, now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” he said at the time.
Musk’s foray into government has been marked by major disruptions in the federal workforce, leaving many workers on edge about their futures. Musk and the Trump administration also targeted entire agencies, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the US Agency for International Development.
Musk has been a near-omnipresent part of Trump’s White House since January and has become a polarizing figure among the general public as a result.
The tech titan’s super PAC, for example, funneled millions of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to help elect the GOP-aligned candidate in a critical Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Many expect his political activism to carry over to the 2026 midterms.
In a virtual appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, however, Musk said he’d contribute “a lot less” in political donations moving forward, but didn’t specify the reasoning behind the decision.
“Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” Musk said at the time. “I do not currently see a reason.”
Musk’s government work led to a backlash against Tesla, throttling share prices. Tesla’s stock bounced back immediately after Musk said in the earnings call that he would step back from his work at the White House DOGE Office.
