What's Going On With Tesla Stock Thursday?

Tesla Inc TSLA shares are trading higher Thursday after CEO Elon Musk announced the end of his role as a special government employee.

What To Know: Musk joined the Trump administration earlier this year to take a lead role at the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. He announced that he’s officially stepping away from the position late Wednesday.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk said in a post on X.

“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

As a special government employee, Musk was allowed to work for the government for 130 days. On Tesla’s earnings call last month, Musk told investors that he would only spend “a day or two” each week working on DOGE initiatives, which helped boost shares despite disappointing results.

Investors appear to be applauding the announcement as the Tesla CEO’s focus is expected to shift back to the automaker as the company prepares for its highly-anticipated robotaxi debut in June.

A few hours after his official DOGE departure announcement, Musk posted on X that Tesla has been testing self-driving vehicles with no one behind the wheel for the past several days and noted that testing is about “a month ahead of schedule.”

“Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer,” Musk said.

Wedbush’s Dan Ives said Musk’s exit from DOGE is “music to the ears of Tesla shareholders,” as he’s now expected to be laser focused on Tesla’s autonomous goals. He called the announcement another clear positive step for Tesla bulls.

Tesla bears have raised concerns about the company's first-quarter performance, pointing to a 9% year-over-year decrease in sales as automotive revenue dropped 20%. Musk said in an interview earlier this month that the company has seen a “major rebound in demand” since the first quarter.

Still, the Tesla CEO stressed that the only things that matter for the company long term are autonomy and the company’s Optimus bots, which will “overwhelmingly dominate the future financial success of the company,” Musk said.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were up 1.14% at $360.98 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Photo: courtesy of Tesla.