Elon Musk says he is committed to still being Tesla chief in five years’ time

Billionaire Elon Musk has said he is committed to being chief executive of Tesla in five years’ time as the carmaker faced intense consumer and stock price pressure over his work with US President Donald Trump’s government.

He also said he will cut back on political spending after heavily backing Mr Trump in 2024.

The question about Tesla came as Mr Musk made a video appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg after he recently travelled to Doha as part of Mr Trump’s Middle East trip last week.

A moderator asked: “Do you see yourself and are you committed to still being the chief executive of Tesla in five years’ time?”

Mr Musk responded: “Yes.”

The moderator pushed further: “No doubt about that at all?”

Mr Musk added, chuckling: “I can’t be still here if I’m dead.”

Tesla has faced intense pressure as Mr Musk worked with Mr Trump as part of its self-described Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) effort, particularly amid its campaign of cuts across the US federal government.

Asked if what he faced made him think twice about his involvement in politics, Mr Musk looked off camera for a moment before responding.

“I did what needed to be done,” he said. “I’m not someone who has ever committed violence and yet massive violence was committed against my companies, massive violence was threatened against me.”

He added: “Don’t worry: We’re coming for you.”

Mr Musk spent at least 250 million dollars (£187 million) supporting Mr Trump in the presidential campaign, and even held some of his own campaign rallies.

He also got involved in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race this year, although his preferred candidate lost.

“I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Mr Musk said. Asked why, he responded: “I think I’ve done enough.”

But he added: “Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”

Mr Musk has seen a Tesla pay package he was due, once valued at 56 billion dollars (£41.8 billion), stopped by a Delaware judge. Mr Musk on Tuesday referred to Chancellor Kathaleen St Jude McCormick as an “activist who is cosplaying a judge in a Halloween costume”.

Yet he acknowledged his Tesla pay was a part of his consideration about staying with the electric carmaker, though he also wanted “sufficient voting control” so he “cannot be ousted by activist investors”.

“It’s not a money thing, it’s a reasonable control thing over the future of the company, especially if we’re building millions, potentially billions of humanoid robots,” he added.

Once Mr Trump took office, Mr Musk held a prominent role as an adviser and leader of Doge. He and his acolytes in the department fanned out widely across the federal government to enact deep cuts to the workforce and spending, in some cases seeking to shut entire agencies altogether.

Doge has pushed to sack tens of thousands of workers in downsizing at agencies, ranging from the IRS to Health and Human Services, and pressured tens of thousands more to take buyout and early retirement offers.

And they sought to shut down agencies such as the US Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

With backing from Doge, agencies have cancelled tens of thousands of government contracts and grants that they say do not align with the administration’s priorities. Some of those moves were done so quickly that they had to be reversed after pushback or court rulings finding that they were illegal.

Critics say it amounts to a reckless chainsaw approach that could destroy much of the nation’s apolitical civil service, impair services for vulnerable populations, and halt critical research.

Doge claims on its “Wall of Receipts” it has saved an estimated 170 billion dollars (£127 billion), but those savings numbers have been shown to be flawed and inflated in many cases.

Mr Musk’s role prompted intense pushback, including protests at Tesla. Speaking to reporters earlier this month as he prepared to step back from Doge, Mr Musk noted the backlash.

“Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun,” he said. “Seeing cars burning is not fun,” he added, referring to the instances of Tesla cars being smashed or set on fire.

Mr Musk’s announced intention to step back from political spending comes amid multiple new business opportunities, including a deal to host the latest versions of his Grok artificial intelligence chatbot on Microsoft’s data centres.

Meanwhile, his brain-computer interface company Neuralink is planning to implant its experimental devices in dozens more people and his electric-vehicle company Tesla is developing a humanoid robot that Mr Musk hopes to one day send to Mars.