Elon Musk says he is leaving the Donald Trump administration after four months as head of the department of government efficiency (DOGE).

Musk announced his decision late Wednesday evening, thanking Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.

The Tesla CEO said DOGE will, however, continue.

News of Musk stepping down caused a stir, largely because of his close relationship with Trump.

But a retweet from the X CEO’s account stated that the departure had not strained his friendship with the president.

“In the coming days, legacy media will try to convince you that President Trump and Elon Musk are no longer friends and that’s why Musk left,” the post reads.

“What they won’t tell you is that Elon was a Special Government Employee, limited to 130 days of service and that term ends tomorrow.”

Musk’s exit comes a day after he spoke out against a Trump-backed spending bill. The president called it a “Big Beautiful Bill”.

In an unusual criticism of the president, the tech tycoon said he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing”.

“I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both, in my personal opinion,” Musk added.

Before Trump was elected, Musk, who played a significant role in seeing him win back the White House, pitched a government cost-cutting initiative multiple times.

Since January 20 when Trump was inaugurated, DOGE has shrunk 11 federal agencies, forcing about 250,000 federal workers out of their jobs.

The agency also claimed to have saved taxpayers $160 billion. Its promise was to save $2 trillion.