Elon Musk’s far-right turn as the head of the Department of Efficiency has apparently tanked Tesla’s earnings.
In a humiliating first-quarter report published Tuesday, Tesla reported that profits had crashed by a whopping 71 percent, falling to a mere $409 million, compared with $1.39 billion from the same quarter last year.
The company vastly underperformed compared to Wall Street’s expectations for per-share profit, reporting an adjusted earnings-per-share of 27 cents, well below the expectations of 41 cents.
Sales slipped dramatically as well, dropping 13 percent from the same period last year. The electric vehicles have become controversial symbols of Donald Trump’s administration and Musk’s cost-cutting antics at DOGE, making them targets of widespread vandalism.
Musk was reportedly considering stepping back as DOGE czar when his special government employee status ends next month, which should come as no surprise. The Washington Post reported that the billionaire bureaucrat was tired of “attacks” from the left.
Dan Ives, a Wedbush Security financial analyst, wrote to clients on Sunday that Musk pulling back from DOGE is the only way that Tesla can recover, according to Bloomberg.
“Musk needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time,” Ives wrote. “Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla … and anyone that thinks the brand damage Musk has inflicted is not a real thing, spend some time speaking to car buyers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. You will think differently after those discussions.”
This latest earnings report may have been the wakeup call Musk has needed. On a call with investors Tuesday, Musk reportedly said that he was planning to cut down on his time spent working with DOGE to two days a week starting in May.
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