Famous for his mass layoffs at Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk has been called the "king of layoffs" by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Immediately after being elected, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He decided to appoint billionaire Elon Musk as the head of this agency.

Musk has been called the “king of cuts” by the U.S. President. At Twitter, this entrepreneur cut up to 80% of the staff, equivalent to over 6,000 people.

At Tesla, he laid off 10% of the workforce, stating that the company needed to minimize operational costs. 10% is also the percentage of staff Musk fired at SpaceX.

For this billionaire, cutting back is a top priority. He believes that his subordinates need to be more agile and resourceful, according to Business Insider.

Elon Musk's Effective Cost-Cutting Strategy

Most of Musk's cutting strategy has shown impressive results. According to this entrepreneur, the number of Twitter users is at an all-time high, Tesla shares rose 28% in the past year, and SpaceX is valued at $250 billion.

He believes that companies' profits increase due to decisions to lay off employees. The question arises: “Can Musk's cutting strategies be applied to government agencies?”

In the position of co-chairman of DOGE, Tesla's head and biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy is striving to recruit individuals with exceptionally high IQs, which could lead to a 75% reduction in the federal workforce.

By successfully cutting this number of employees, the government could potentially save $2 trillion, equivalent to one-third of total federal spending. However, this is seen as a difficult dream to realize.

A bold entrepreneur, standing outside the government like Elon Musk is expected to have the ability to change this situation. Michael Morris, a professor at Columbia Business School, said that large organizations need a “disruptive” force to change.

“Things do not just disappear. Only someone willing to creatively and intentionally dismantle everything can bring about innovation. Change often comes with a significant shock, leading to fierce resistance,” Morris said.

Elon Musk's Challenges

As the CEO of businesses, Musk can suppress resistance from the staff and aggressively reform the company's culture. However, things will be different at DOGE. This organization only plays an advisory role, not responsible for making final decisions.

“Even if this billionaire has excellent ideas, his proposals may not necessarily be approved,” said Andy Wu, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.

Currently, Musk still shows interest in small, shocking cuts, such as research on guinea pig-related drugs or funding drag shows.

These are the information that attract a large amount of interaction on social media X, yet they hold little significance in reducing the federal government's enormous annual spending.

Furthermore, Elon Musk's role at DOGE also raises controversy over conflicts of interest. Do Musk's business ventures, including electric vehicles and social media, influence the proposals?

Despite many Americans' skepticism, Musk asserts that achieving high performance from limited resources is possible. When Musk laid off workers at Twitter, many predicted that the app would collapse due to a lack of maintenance staff.

Two years later, this social network operates almost as before with much lower operating costs.