Elon Musk has ended his scheduled time as a “special government employee”, as the world’s richest man returns to his stuttering business empire.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk tweeted that he “would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

As a “special government employee”, Musk had been allowed to work for the Trump administration for 130 days in a calendar year. The end of May marks 130 days since Trump’s inauguration back in January 2025.

As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.

The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2025

Doge role

A White House official who was granted anonymity to describe personnel matters confirmed to CNBC Musk’s departure and said he will begin offboarding Wednesday night.

In November 2024 Donald Trump had appointed both Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head up the advisor group called the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), with a remit to offer advice on cutting “wasteful” US government spending.

Doge is not a government department but was intended to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”

In January 2025 Vivek Ramaswamy stepped down as co head of Doge, which left Elon Musk solely in charge.

Controversial role

And Musk’s tenure in charge of Doge has been highly controversial, as he oversaw a chaotic cost cutting exercise of federal departments, similar to when he had taken control of Twitter/X.

In February 21 civil service employees resigned from Doge, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

In March Donald Trump limited the power of Doge to carry out workforce cuts, after his Cabinet secretaries angrily clashed with Musk during a cabinet meeting, as Musk and Doge had indiscriminately purged thousands of federal employees (including many thousands of disabled veterans).

In some cases Doge was forced to rehire fired federal personnel, as evidenced by asking nuclear scientists and CDC staffers to return to work – after they had been terminated.

Concern was also raised at Doge personnel accessing sensitive data of millions of US citizens, as well as Doge’s firing of staff from federal agencies investigating Elon Musk businesses.

Doge also mistakenly placed a list of “non-core federal properties” for sale, which included the headquarters of the FBI, and the buildings that house the US Justice Department, Housing Development, and other federal agencies.

That list was subsequently taken down, as was other claims about the number of cost savings achieved, after the claims were found to be factually incorrect.

And in April Musk had dismissed reports he was soon to leave his role as head of Doge, but later admitted he would be winding down his time at the agency.

Musk had previously claimed Doge would cut approximately $2 trillion from the federal budget and cut regulations.

But Doge’s website in late May claims its cuts have only led to an estimated $175 billion in savings.

Spending bill

As he left the government, Musk was reportedly critical of Trump’s spending bill that is making its way through Congress, CNBC noted.

Musk reportedly said in a CBS interview set to air June 1 that it “undermines the work that the Doge team is doing.”

Meanwhile Musk returns to his business empire, parts of which have been struggling during his absence.

Tesla for example is experiencing a stunning decline in sales in European countries, and the EV giant is sitting on 10,000 unsold Cybertrucks that has cost it roughly $800 million, while resale values of the slab side vehicles have plummeted.

Musk’s support of Donald Trump and his activities at Doge, coupled with his support of far right causes, and political interventions in foreign countries, have taken a hefty toll on Tesla, with some analysts warning of significant self-inflicted brand damage.

On Wednesday, pension fund leaders reportedly sent a letter to Tesla’s board saying that they should require Musk to put in 40 hours per week, at a minimum at the EV maker as a condition to attain any future CEO pay package.

Tesla’s board of directors had previously denied reports it had opened a search to replace Elon Musk, after it allegedly reached out to several executive search firms (aka headhunters) to begin a search for a new CEO.