President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency. Musk will co-lead the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk heavily backed Trump in the presidential election, appearing at his rallies and donating millions of dollars to fundraising efforts. Musk leads Tesla and SpaceX as CEO and owns and plays a major part in running X. Musk is also involved in less-known companies, like Neuralink, which he cofounded and remains CEO of. Musk leads OpenAI's rival firm, start-up xAI.
The role is just one of many Musk holds concurrently. His support has led to a role in the new government. He also has many other jobs, including leading Tesla, SpaceX, and AI startup xAI. Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy. Musk will lead the new unofficial department with Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk is arguably best known as the CEO of Tesla, which he was an early investor in, and has since gone on to build into a major force in the auto industry. Telsa is one of only a handful of American corporations that have reached a $1 trillion market cap, joining the likes of Apple and Nvidia. The billionaire is the boss of SpaceX, the aerospace firm he founded in 2002.
In 2022, the business mogul acquired Twitter for $44 billion, later renaming the social media platform X and scrapping the bird logo. While CEO Linda Yaccarino runs X's daily operations, Musk remains heavily involved. Musk's Neuralink has tested its brain chip on two human patients. Another startup led by Musk is xAI, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, is in talks to raise funding to at a $40 billion valuation.
Trump added that the pair will work to "slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies." It will also seek to "create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before," though exactly how it will function remains unclear. Musk and his company aim to build a rocket system that will make it possible to build a city on Mars. The firm is developing two devices: A brain chip to help treat neurological conditions and a surgical robot which would insert the equipment into the patient.