Elon Musk is officially leaving his role in the Trump administration after just five months, ending a tumultuous period during which he oversaw cost-cutting by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Musk said: "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to cut unnecessary spending."

However, Musk originally intended to run Doge until next summer.

Initially, Elon Musk pledged to cut up to $2 trillion from the annual federal budget, or nearly a third of all government spending. As of May, Doge has claimed only $175 billion in savings.

Musk, who has a net worth of more than $428 billion according to Forbes, was Trump's top donor in the 2024 presidential election campaign and spent more than $250 million to support his candidacy. He recently said he intended to spend "a lot less" on future campaigns and that he had "done enough" donating to political causes.

In recent weeks, Musk has vowed to focus on business, as Tesla in particular suffered a sharp decline in sales partly due to his association with the Trump administration.

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