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Greetings! Is Elon Musk’s run as a government cost cutter coming to an end? According to a new Politico report, President Donald Trump has been telling members of his inner circle that Musk will step back in the coming weeks and return to his businesses, most notably his struggling electric vehicle maker, Tesla. The White House has downplayed the report, saying Musk will leave in spring as planned. But there have been mounting signs that Musk is becoming a bit of a liability for Trump. Just yesterday, Wisconsin voters elected a liberal candidate for State Supreme Court—a rebuke of Musk, who had poured millions of dollars into supporting the conservative candidate. Some opinion polls have also shown that most voters disapprove of Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s tactics. The billionaire’s effort to rehab DOGE’s image with a sit-down interview on Fox last week clearly didn’t do the trick. Musk wouldn’t be alone in taking a step back from Washington. I reported Monday that several of Musk’s recruits working in government have quietly headed back to work at his companies. Tesla investors appear to be thrilled with the news. Earlier in the day, the company disclosed that its global vehicle deliveries had fallen 13% in the first quarter compared to the same period the previous year. Ordinarily, that would have been depressing news for the company’s shareholders, but after the Politico report came out, Tesla’s stock surged, finishing the day up more than 5%. Meanwhile, in Washington, Musk’s failed bid in Wisconsin earned a jab from Steve Bannon, the right-wing media figure, on stage Wednesday at Y Combinator’s Little Tech Competition Summit. The event attracted some of the biggest names in antitrust enforcement, whom some in tech view as protectors of less powerful tech companies. The roster included Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Gail Slater, and Joe Biden’s former FTC chair, Lina Khan, whom Bannon described as “one of the more important political figures in this country.” Appearing on stage, Ferguson advocated for “vigorous antitrust enforcement” and warned against the dangers of tech companies that build “walled gardens.” He also defended Trump’s recent firing of the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners. (Khan, for her part, described the firings as “clearly illegal.”) In some ways, the event showed how concerns over big tech’s power have scrambled the usual political order of things, as Bannon’s favorable comments about Khan show. But Khan’s comment on the FTC firings are a reminder that the divisions between those critics are far from dead. Meanwhile, over at the White House, it was also a busy day for tech. First, a wave of TikTok suitors flooded the administration with plans to acquire the app. They were clearly trying to get their proposal in ahead of Saturday, when a Trump order delaying the enforcement of Congress’ TikTok ban-or-sell law is set to expire. Amazon lobbed a bid in. So did AppLovin. Even a startup run by an OnlyFans founder got in on the action. A short while later, Kaya scooped the details of the Trump administration’s plan for a new entity, TikTok America, that could keep the app alive in the U.S. TikTok America would be half-owned by U.S. investors, while its current parent company, China’s ByteDance, would retain just under 20%. Whether such a deal will receive the approval of the Chinese government is another matter entirely and could well depend on whether Trump makes concessions to China on other issues—for example, tariffs. Trump also reportedly received an in-person visit at the White House on Wednesday from a prominent tech CEO: Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg. Not long after Zuckerberg arrived, The Wall Street Journal reported that he has personally been lobbying Trump to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which is set to go to trial in less than two weeks. Zuckerberg has been turning up so often at the Trump White House—today’s visit was his third since January—that Trump aides feel like he’s starting to get a bit pushy, The Journal reported. That kind of leak doesn’t bode well for a settlement. As Kalley and Sylvia reported in a recent story on the upcoming FTC-Meta trial, the agency hasn’t had any serious settlement discussions with Meta. And some observers think the administration likes the idea of having lawsuits hanging over the heads of tech companies to give them more leverage.—Nick Wingfield • The ex-Rippling employee accused of spying on the company for Deel confessed to striking a deal with the latter company’s CEO to supply information (more here). • Tesla deliveries fell 13% in the first quarter to 336,681, the lowest quarterly number since 2022 (more here). Dealmaker was named the “Best in Business” newsletter for its insightful coverage of private technology and the AI hype cycle. Start receiving the newsletter here.
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