Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, said Tuesday that he would spend less time in Washington working for President Donald Trump after the auto maker reported a profit drop of 71 per cent in the first three months of the year.

Musk told Wall Street analysts in a conference call that he would continue to spend “a day or two per week” on Washington matters, probably for the duration of Trump’s presidency. The billionaire executive is one of Trump’s closest confidants and has played a leading role in the President’s efforts to slash government spending and cut tens of thousands of federal government jobs.

He spoke less than two hours after Tesla said it had earned $409 million, down from $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024. The company previously reported a net profit of $1.1 billion last year, but revised the figure to reflect changes in the way cryptocurrency assets are valued.

Tesla sales have been slumping because of intense competition from Chinese carmakers such as BYD, a lack of new models and Musk’s support of far-right causes, which has turned off some liberals and centrists from buying Tesla vehicles.

Musk said recent protests at Tesla showrooms worldwide had been conducted by people who stood to lose government handouts because of his work with the Trump administration. “The real reason is that those who are receiving the waste and fraud wish it to continue,” he said.

Tesla remains the most valuable auto maker in the world as measured by its stock price, and it sells far more electric vehicles in the United States than any other company.

But its shares have lost about half their value since mid-December as investors have grown more pessimistic about the company’s prospects and are concerned about Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Some investors and analysts have recently called on Musk to spend more time managing Tesla and limit or end his work for the administration.

Even if he does spend less time on administration duties, however, his attention will remain divided. That’s because Musk also runs SpaceX,
the social media site X, an
artificial intelligence company called xAI and other businesses.

The earnings were well below Wall Street’s expectations.

New York Times News Service