WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Billionaire business magnet Elon Musk has announced that he is leaving the White House after leading a controversial cost-efficiency drive across the board through the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Musk announced plans to move away from DOGE a few weeks ago, but made it official In a statement posted on his social media platform X.
He thanked President Donald Trump for the opportunity to help run DOGE. '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,' Musk wrote on X Wednesday.
'The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,' he added.
Musk first revealed his plan to end his role as a special government employee while addressing investors on an earnings call in April. The Tesla chief said he would spend less time for DOGE and that he would be 'allocating far more of my time to Tesla'.
The 53-year-old richest man on earth was limited to working 130 days a year in a 'special government employee' status.
Elon Musk was a senior advisor to the president in charge of DOGE, an initiative emerged from his discussions with Trump in 2024, aimed at modernizing information technology, maximizing productivity and efficiency, and cutting wasteful spending.
During his term, DOGE terminated contracts from agencies targeted by Trump's executive orders, facilitated mass layoffs and dismantled organizations within the government and those that received funding from it.
Many Biden-era projects were discontinued and thousands of federal jobs axed, thus saving millions for the administration.
Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration have made multiple claims of having discovered significant fraud, and saving $160 billion.
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