With profits and the stock price sinking, board members told Musk he needed to spend more time at the company.

The latest Musk drama underscores the unique dilemma Tesla's board faces in managing him as he oversees five other companies and, more recently, has focused primarily on advising

Elon Musk might soon be leaving Washington, but he says DOGE needs to be a long-term project. Musk insisted in a TV interview that the project to slash government spending and eliminate entire agencies ought to endure amid signs that he may soon step away from the effort and return to his struggling electric car company.

The effort faces an uncertain future in a largely frozen Congress that has passed few bills since President Donald Trump took office in January.