Musk’s Empire Feels the Burn of DOGE

And now his DOGE watch is ending. Allegedly.

Last week, Politico reported that Trump has told advisors and cabinet members that Elon Musk would soon be stepping down from his role as DOGE head honcho and White House consigliere. Legally speaking, the “special government employee” position held by Musk has a 130-day cap, which would likely put the end of his tenure sometime in late May or early June. With his myriad side-hustles, however — Tesla, X, xAI, et al. — the world’s richest man, some $110 billion poorer so far this year, still has plenty of work cut out for him.

xAI Marks the Spot

First things first: Tesla. The EV giant’s stock has tumbled more than 40% year-to-date, including a roughly 10% skid in Friday’s wipeout. Shareholders seem so desperate to get Musk’s full attention back as CEO that shares actually jumped last Wednesday on reports of his possible DOGE departure. 

The dip has been driven by fundamentals, however. Last year marked the company’s first-ever sales decline, and the deceleration seems to be continuing. Data published Thursday showed Tesla delivered just 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter of 2025, a 13% year-over-year dip, marking its weakest point in three years and well below analysts’ expectations. Deutsche Bank analysts expect a 5% sales decline overall for 2025, likely buffered by the rollout of a much-awaited refresh of the company’s popular Model Y electric SUV. The skid — driven in part by a global boycott movement — is enough for longtime Tesla shareholder Ross Gerber to declare it time for Musk to step down as the company’s top executive altogether. 

Elsewhere in the empire, things are similarly up and down:

• In what could technically be considered one of the biggest deals of the year, Musk’s xAI acquired his social media network X, in an all-stock deal that valued the former at $80 billion and the latter at $30 billion (way up from Fidelity’s $10 billion implied valuation late last summer). In an interesting, unorthodox wrinkle, the same advisers from Morgan Stanley and Sullivan & Cromwell worked both sides of the deal.
• Meanwhile, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink has become something of a political football. A Musk social media outburst appears to have cost Starlink a $7 billion contract to develop telecommunication infrastructure with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in Latin America, and last week the government of Yukon, Canada, said it’d be canceling its 90 Starlink contracts in retaliation for tariffs.

So Long, Farewell: Of course, Musk’s DOGE departure remains something of an “if,” not a “when.” The Tesla leader called reports of his departure “fake news” in an X post. And Vice President JD Vance said Musk would remain a “friend and adviser” to the president if and when he leaves.