- Elon Musk said running his businesses while working closely with the White House hadn't been easy.
- Tesla's stock declined 15% on Monday, with some investors concerned.
- Musk said he wanted to make the government "more efficient" and "eliminate waste and fraud."
Elon Musk said Monday that running his businesses, including Tesla and SpaceX, while also taking on a major government overhaul effort had not been easy.
During an interview with Fox Business that aired Monday, Musk was asked by the host Larry Kudlow how he was running his other businesses while also working closely with the Trump White House.
"With great difficulty," Musk said, followed by a long pause and a sigh but not much more explanation.
"I'm just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud, and so far we're making good progress, actually," Musk added.
His comment came as Tesla stock declined 15% on Monday, its largest single-day drop since 2020. The stock is down 55% from a high in December, causing concern among investors.
Musk is working closely with the DOGE office, which has pushed spending cuts and mass firings at various government agencies. President Donald Trump has credited Musk with leading the office, though other White House officials have denied it.
Musk said in the Fox interview that his team was now made up of more than 100 people and that he expected it to reach 200. He also said they'd taken action at virtually every government agency when asked by Kudlow whether they were working in all departments.
"We're trying to make the government more efficient across the board, so yeah," Musk said.
When asked about the recent attacks on Tesla facilities, including gunshots fired at a dealership in Oregon and other acts of vandalism, Musk said that it had been "tough" but that he thought "we're doing the right thing here."
Musk has been known for working long hours at his companies, but some investors are worried he's no longer giving Tesla enough of this focus.
"We think shareholders have legitimate concerns about Elon Musk being spread too thin," Garrett Nelson, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, told Business Insider's Matthew Fox, "and it's become clear he's now spending more time on DOGE than anything else."