Tesla reported dismal earnings and warned that politics and Trump's tariff policies would take a toll on the company. Musk said he would advocate for lower…
Tesla reported dismal earnings and warned that politics and Trump's tariff policies would take a toll on the company. Musk said he would advocate for lower tariffs.Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday that he will begin dedicating more time to Tesla and less to his work with the Trump administration starting next month, providing a relief to Tesla investors fed up with his political work and signaling a possible shift in power at the White House.
Musk's comments came on Tesla's call with investors following the company reporting a sizable drop in first-quarter profit and revenue. The company warned that the political environment along with the Trump administration's tariff plans were challenges for its business."Starting probably next month, May, my time obligation to DOGE will drop significantly," Musk said, referring to his Department of Government Efficiency. "I think I'll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so, and for as long as it is useful, but starting next month, I'll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla, now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done," he said.Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has faced a swell of opposition for his work with President Donald Trump, which has made Tesla a Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and privately owned cars have been targeted across the country since Elon Musk has taken a prominent role in the White House.Shares of Tesla were up about 4% in after-hours trading, though the company has lost 50% of its value from its mid-December peak. Musk reiterated on the call that he intends to pivot Tesla from its established electric car business into two new products: robotaxis and humanoid robots, two ideas that Musk said that Tesla was still on track to begin selling robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, in June, putting Tesla into head-to-head competition with Google spinoff Waymo, which launched robotaxi rides there Tesla, in its written earnings report, said that"uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets" associated with"rapidly evolving trade policy," along with"changing political sentiment," could have"a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near-term."It also said updates to its best-selling Model Y that affected its availability on the market contributed to the shortfall. "We remain committed to expanding our business model to include delivering autonomous robots across multiple form factors and use cases — powered by our real-world AI expertise — to our customers and for use in our factories, as we navigate these headwinds," it said. It said it was not prepared to provide guidance for performance the rest of the year — a decision other companies are also making — because of broad trends that include the impact from tariffs. Tesla has boasted that is"It is difficult to measure the impacts of shifting global trade policy on the automotive and energy supply chains, our cost structure and demand for durable goods and related services," Tesla said in the outlook section of its report., including from investors who would like him to pay more attention to the company and from his job in the Trump administration, where he has volunteered to slash government programs. Musk has kept his CEO roles at Tesla and SpaceX even while he has spent much of his time with President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, the group charged with reducing federal spending. toward Tesla and Musk: 47% of the public had negative views of the company versus 27% positive, and half had negative views of Musk, compared with 36% who saw him positively. "Tesla has become a political symbol around the world," Daniel Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, said in an interview on CNBC after the earnings report was released. Ives said the political controversy has hurt Tesla not only by reducing demand for vehicles but also because Tesla has become a target A key question for Tesla, Musk and the Trump administration has been how long Musk will remain in his White House position. His job as a “special government employee” is time-limited by lawduring any period of 365 consecutive days, which could put his legally mandated endpoint as early as late May. Musk told Fox News this month that he believedThe New York Times didn't libel former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, jury finds
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