Musk admits regretting "crossing borders" into politics: Although he stopped a billion-dollar "zombie payment," he will never do it again.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) and SpaceX, recently stated that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the U.S. White Houseestablished at the beginning of President Trump's second termhas only achieved "limited" success in cutting inefficient federal spending; if given the chance to choose again, he would not invest in this work again. Musk revealed during a podcast that the department had halted what he called "zombie payments," which were federal financial expenditures lacking reasonable project codes and funding justifications. "We have made some progress, it can be considered somewhat effective," Musk admitted, "In fact, we have cut a significant amount of meaningless, purely wasteful funding. For example, the size of these 'zombie payments' could reach up to $100 billion to $200 billion annually. What we did was to simply require that each allocation must be marked with project codes and explain the use of funds, which successfully prevented these funds from being improperly disbursed." Musk added, "Most of the time, I can't believe I was really involved in this work. To be honest, looking back on those experiences now seems extremely unreal." When directly asked if he would be willing to lead the Department of Government Efficiency again, Musk gave a negative answer: "I don't think so." He also stated that in hindsight, he should have focused more on running his companies. "If I hadn't taken on the job at the Department of Government Efficiency, I could have fully devoted myself to running the company. In that case, Tesla, Inc. wouldn't have been caught up in the 'car burning protests' public controversy," Musk described the collective opposition to his actions of curbing "political corruption" as "an extremely strong reaction" in the podcast. Earlier this year, Musk and Trump had a heated public dispute over a large-scale tax and spending bill; however, there have been signs of a thaw in their relationship. In terms of stock performance, Tesla, Inc. stock hit a historic high in December 2024, before plummeting by over 50% in April 2025. The stock gradually recovered over the following quarters, closing at $445.17 on Tuesday, with a year-to-date increase of around 10%.