US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk to jointly lead a new "Department of Government Efficiency" Musk will lead the body with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy - it's essentially an advisory role, writes our correspondent David Willis Trump ...

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” in his second administration.

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead the newly created department that Trump indicated will operate outside the confines of government.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory, Elon Musk has not been able to keep up that top 20 spot. He’s crashed all the way down to #36 in the world ranking list, with recent reporting putting him next to Trump on election night and on a call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the win.

Trump named tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy to head up a new "Department of Government Efficiency," fulfilling a campaign pledge to give Musk sweeping oversight of government spending.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, reportedly spent "at least $130 million" on pro-Trump campaigning.

Several people close to Donald Trump have stressed to ABC News the significance and influence billionaire Elon Musk has had in the Trump orbit over the last week.

"Someone who may not be in the cabinet but is likely going to be very close to the president elect throughout his administration, Elon Musk." "Yeah, he was obviously a huge surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail in the final stretch to Election Day.