Elon Musk is the world's richest man and his new proximity to the White House is, for now, making him even wealthier and more powerful.
The tech tycoon is believed to have added more than $US54 billion to his net worth since the November 5 US election, according to estimates from Forbes magazine.
The wealth injection came largely from a surge in the stock price of his companies Tesla and SpaceX after the re-election of Donald Trump.
In the months leading up to the election, Mr Musk became one of Trump's most visible supporters, attending events with him, promoting him on his social media platform, X, and donating millions to his campaign.
The foreign-born billionaire has now found a place in the president-elect's inner-circle.
On election night, Trump dedicated 4 minutes of his half-an-hour-long victory speech to praising the entrepreneur.
Behind-the-scenes footage posted on YouTube showed the Tesla chief executive with Trump's closest family and friends at the Mar-a-Lago estate after polls closed.
Mar-a-Lago is Trump's sprawling Florida home, which doubles as a private members club.
As Trump began to assemble his new team, US media reported Musk was still by his side at Mar-a-Lago, joining him on calls and helping him with his transition.
The billionaire jokingly referred to himself on social media as the "the first buddy", but now it is clear he will have at least one formal role in the Trump administration.
The president-elect announced Musk would lead an advisory committee focused on reducing US spending dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, to be known as DOGE.
DOGE is also the name of a cryptocurrency Elon Musk has bought and frequently promoted.
He will take on this role alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, another businessman and one-time Republican Party presidential nominee candidate.
The DOGE project will be able to advise the president, but analysts are sceptical about how much change the project can initiate as major decisions about spending and budget cuts will still need to be passed by US congress.
[Source : abc.net.au]
