MW LinkedIn co-founder has known Elon Musk for years. Here's what he says Americans don't understand about the Tesla CEO.

By Barbara Kollmeyer

Musk doesn't really value other people's advice, says Reid Hoffman

A billionaire venture capitalist who has known Elon Musk for decades says there's one crucial thing that Americans should understand about how the adviser to President Donald Trump operates.

Musk doesn't value the opinions of other people, LinkedIn $(MSFT)$ co-founder Reid Hoffman, who worked with Musk in the early days of PayPal (PYPL) in 2000, said in a recent interview with "The Rest is Money" podcast.

The Tesla $(TSLA)$ chief executive's approach to cutting government waste mirrors how he would operate one of his own companies, said Hoffman, who added that while some inefficiency exists within government, "it's actually the nature of the beast and you're better off for it," because it provides stability.

Musk, who oversees the entity known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or "DOGE," has been criticized by some and praised by others for spearheading the slashing of federal spending in the first weeks of the new administration.

"If a company goes boom and blows up and suddenly, you know, is just a smoking crater, it's a tragedy ... but it's easily recoverable. If a government blows up, that's a terror for all of society," Hoffman said.

Hoffman and Musk have had a complex relationship in the past that some might describe as bitter rivalry. Hoffman is one of five prominent liberals Musk has accused of being behind recent protests against Tesla.

Hoffman said Musk and and his collaborators should have taken time to understand how the government works instead of simply axing programs and in the process accidentally firing people who worked on programs such as one to prevent Ebola. Hoffman warned of a death toll that could reach into millions of people due to cutbacks at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

'[Musk] thinks that on almost everything, he knows better than everyone else.'Reid Hoffman

So why doesn't Musk understand this, and what is it that many people don't understand about him? "To him, this is his hammer and everything looks like a nail," Hoffman said. "And you know, he doesn't particularly consult with people. He doesn't particularly seek other expert advice. He thinks that on almost everything, he knows better than everyone else."

Hoffman was also asked about income inequality and whether the industrial revolution that he has predicted will stem from artificial intelligence - he has written co-written a book titled "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future" - will end up worsening inequality between the haves and the have-nots.

"What I try to orchestrate is that you have multiple powers that are held in balance with each other ... if you have one company, it's a model, it's a serious problem. If you have 10 companies, they're competing with each other, they're held in balance, and that's the kind of thing that I try to look to do," he said.

-Barbara Kollmeyer

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March 10, 2025 11:02 ET (15:02 GMT)

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