Washington DC [US], May 29 (ANI): Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday stepped down as a 'Special Government Employee' amid widespread protests.

Musk thanked US President Donald Trump for giving him an opportunity to reduce the wasteful spending by the government.

In a post on X, he 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 reduce wasteful spending. The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.'

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1927877957852266518

Earlier on Wednesday, Musk said he is back to 'spending 24/7 at work' and sleeping in conference rooms -- as he hopped back into corporate life after his time in Washington, CNN reported.

Musk's favourable attitude 'extremely hardcore' work cultures is now coming in handy as the billionaire now has to juggle multiple flailing companies together.

Tesla sales are falling. The Cybertruck is shaping up to be a flop for the ages. The social media site X needs 'major operational improvements,' according to Musk, after a widespread outage over the weekend, which came less than two weeks after xAI's Grok started spinning conspiracy theories about 'White genocide.' And, late Tuesday, the latest multibillion-dollar SpaceX launch resulted in its Starship rocket spinning out of control and breaking up over the Indian Ocean, as per CNN.

Investors appear relieved that Musk is refocusing on his day job(s). Shares of Tesla -- the only publicly traded Musk-owned enterprise -- have shot up 25% in the past month (though they are still miniscule relative to their December peak). That optimism is conditioned on Musk actually fixing the problems plaguing the EV maker while also delivering on his promise to launch an autonomous robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in the coming weeks.

Musk flagged concerns about Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, saying in a video released on Tuesday that he believes it would raise the US budget deficit and undercut efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, as per CNN.

'I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' CNN quoted Musk as saying.

'I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both,' he added.

DOGE is poised to continue its work even as Musk steps back, with staffers to remain in place, embedded across federal agencies, for months or years to come. (ANI)