- Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX have benefited from government contracts and regulatory credits. Still, he is charged with slashing government spending and jobs, recusing himself when a conflict of interest is present. A reported $465 million loan from the Energy Department to Tesla—that Musk personally fought for—helped him navigate the company through difficult days.
President Donald Trump entrusted the richest man in the world to cut costs for the federal government after he backed him throughout the election. The online tracker for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims its “total estimated savings are $65 billion, which is a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings.”
But DOGE’s Elon Musk runs a business empire of his own—one that reportedly collected $38 billion in government funding through a collection of government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits that go as far back as 20 years, an analysis by the Washington Post revealed.
Almost two-thirds of the $38 billion in funds were promised to his businesses in the past five years, the Washington Post reported. Last year alone, $6.3 billion in federal and local funding was devoted to Musk’s companies—the largest amount committed thus far, the publication said.
Musk is worth $358 billion. He owns and runs several companies such as electric-car maker Tesla; rocket maker SpaceX; social media platform X (which was once Twitter); artificial intelligence company xAI; brain computer interface company Neuralink; and tunneling service the Boring Company. On top of that, he is a special government employee and senior advisor to the president.
Government contracts to Musk’s SpaceX from NASA and the Department of Defense make up most of the funds, while Tesla has collected $11.4 billion in regulatory credits, per the Washington Post. Interestingly enough, DOGE, the non-Cabinet cost-cutting body of Musk’s, has looked to slash staff, budgets, and contracts at each of the seven agencies his companies have contracts with. Still, it is Musk who will decide when there is a conflict of interest and when he should remove himself. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier said the President claimed that “if Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts.”
The total amount of funding for his businesses could be higher, since the outlet only looked at publicly available contracts; defense and intelligence matters were not included. Not to mention, the reporting found other grants and tax credits where the exact amount was omitted. Plus, 52 contracts with seven government agencies from NASA to the Department of Defense are on the hook to potentially pay his companies another $11.8 billion in the next few years, according to the Washington Post.
Contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense helped build SpaceX’s infrastructure, the outlet reported—a NASA spokesperson told the publication that it has invested $15 billion in SpaceX. A $465 million loan from the Energy Department helped Tesla scale to what it is today. “Tesla would not have survived without the loan,” a former Tesla employee familiar with the company’s finances told the Washington Post. “It was a critical loan at a critical time.” Musk was personally involved in securing the loan, two people familiar told the publication; he held daily meetings with Tesla executives to discuss the necessary paperwork and spent hours with a government loan officer. When the loan went through, it was discovered that Tesla was missing a certification to actually qualify, so Musk, around Christmastime, went directly to the corresponding administrator to make it happen.
Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in an email: “President Trump and his entire administration is committed to executing a head to toe assessment of every contract the American people are funding with their taxpayer dollars. Any contracts connected to Elon Musk’s very successful companies will comply with every government ethics rule as it pertains to potential conflicts of interests. The Trump administration will not play favorites in its mission to cut waste, fraud, and abuse.”
