Steve Davis (age 45 as of March 20, 2025[1]) is, among other things, the effective day-to-day leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, and what the New York Times characterized as Elon Musk's "top lieutenant", playing many roles within Musk's enterprises, particularly focused on cost cutting, firing, and dismantling organizations. Musk has compared him to chemotherapy, i.e., poison to save a body from imminent death of cancer.[1][2][3][4]
Davis owned a bar in Washington D.C. called Thomas Foolery, opened in 2013. It sold liquor in mini-bottles, served kids food like grilled cheese peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, each table had a board game, sold candy, and had a kindergarten decor for adults.[5] He owned a frozen yogurt shop in DC called Mr. Yogato from 2008-2018.[6]
Davis began working for Musk in 2003 at SpaceX, where he was the 14th hire. He was hired from a Stanford graduate aeronautics program. He became known for finding ways to cut costs. In 2008, he moved to Washington, D.C. with a broad range of responsibilities including finding new land for SpaceX operations in Texas. Davis pursued an economics doctorate. In 2018, Musk appointed Davis to lead the Boring Company. After the acquisition of Twitter in 2022, Davis played key roles in slashing jobs and costs; he moved into the Twitter office with his wife and newborn baby.[7]
Musk told a group at Mar-a-Lago that nobody in the world was better than Davis at dismantling — he acknowledged that he might not be the right person to build an organization back up. "Steve is like chemo," Musk said. "A little chemo can save your life; a lot of chemo could kill you."[8] Associates of Davis have noted his strong devotion to Musk. Jared Birchall remarked "If Elon asked Steve to jump out of a window, he would do it."[9] This view was echoed by longtime friend Adam Green who said Davis was once a "fun outside-the-box thinker," who had turned into a "blind servant" to Musk.[1] Davis has attempted to stay out of public view, having mostly avoided having his picture taken.[1]
Trump administration
In 2024, Davis oversaw a Trump-supporting super PAC that Musk had financially backed. Davis was part of the Musk "landing team" that interviewed candidates for the Department of Government Efficiency. The New York Times reported that Steve Davis is "effectively the leader of DOGE", making major decisions without Gleason.[1]
Davis and his wife had a base in the Social Security building with a full armed security detail.[1]The New York Times reported that Davis led the effort to email all government employees at once, leading to the "Fork in the Road" email and the government wide resignation offer.[1]
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