Tesla Motors (TSLA.US) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently stated that the White House's Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a new agency established at the beginning of President Trump's second term—achieved only "limited" success in reducing inefficient federal spending. If given the choice again, he would never take on this role.

During a podcast appearance, Musk revealed that the agency halted what he called "zombie payments"—federal expenditures lacking proper project codes or justification for fund usage. "We made some progress, which counts as modest success," Musk admitted. "In fact, we eliminated a significant amount of meaningless, purely wasteful spending. For example, the annual scale of such 'zombie payments' could have reached $100 billion to $200 billion. All we did was mandate that every allocation must include a project code and specify its purpose, which successfully prevented these improper disbursements."

Musk added, "Most of the time, I couldn’t believe I was actually involved in this work. Frankly, looking back, the whole experience feels surreal." When directly asked if he would lead the Office of Government Efficiency again, Musk responded negatively: "I don’t think so." He also reflected that, in hindsight, he should have focused more on running his businesses.

"If I hadn’t taken on the government efficiency role, I could have fully dedicated myself to company operations. In that case, Tesla wouldn’t have been caught in the 'burning car protests' controversy," Musk said, describing the backlash against his anti-political-corruption efforts as an "extremely intense reaction."

Earlier this year, Musk and Trump engaged in a heated public dispute over a large-scale tax and spending bill, though signs of reconciliation later emerged.

In terms of stock performance, Tesla shares hit an all-time high in December 2024 before plunging over 50% by April 2025. The stock has since gradually recovered, closing at $445.17 on Tuesday with a year-to-date gain of around 10%.