Steve Davis was Elon Musk's confidant at SpaceX and Twitter. He's now ready to help the billionaire cut costs at DOGE.
Mark Ralston/Getty Images
- Steve Davis, an Elon Musk loyalist, is ready to help out at the Department of Government Efficiency.
- Davis has worked at Musk's companies for over 20 years, having first joined SpaceX in 2003.
- Since then he has become a close advisor to the world's richest man.
Steve Davis has been a vital point person for Elon Musk. His next act is to help the billionaire sort out the government.
Davis, a longtime Musk loyalist, has been enlisted to recruit staff for the Department of Government Efficiency, Bloomberg reported. Donald Trump has tasked Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with overseeing the new department, whose authority and jurisdiction is still unclear.
Davis's appearance in operational planning at DOGE, a project proposed to cut federal spending by $2 trillion, isn't surprising. Davis and Musk's working relationship stretches back more than two decades.
Davis entered Musk's sphere in 2003, when he joined his rocket company, SpaceX, a year after its founding. A 2019 Bloomberg report said that while working for the company in Washington, DC, Davis launched a dessert shop called Mr. Yogato.
Davis' ties with Musk have only deepened since then. Davis, a Stanford University-educated aerospace engineer, helped Musk launch the Boring Company, a tunneling and construction business, in 2016. He was later appointed president and CEO.
He was also said to have advised the billionaire in the early days of Musk's Twitter takeover, where Musk initiated a sweeping layoff plan that reduced head count by almost 90% in six months.
LEON NEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Bloomberg reported that Davis was so willing to help Musk during the takeover in October 2022 that he slept at Twitter's offices with his partner and newborn baby.
It's unclear how Davis will help steer Musk's cost-cutting ambitions when Trump's second term in the White House begins, though Bloomberg's report offers some clues based on Davis' activities at Musk's other companies.
It said Davis' leadership responsibilities at the Boring Company involved "signing off on costs as low as a few hundred dollars," adding that he "drives hard bargains with suppliers."
During his stint at SpaceX, Davis was said to have helped Musk find a $3,900 alternative to a part that cost $120,000.