Ex-Twitter staffer says Elon Musk held 1am meetings, worked 12-hour days ‘7 days a week’
Musk has long been known for his punishing work habits.
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A former senior employee at X (formerly Twitter) who reported directly to Elon Musk has defended the billionaire’s work ethic after a US congresswoman accused him of lacking one. Chris Bakke, who spent more than two years working under Musk, responded to Representative Teresa Leger Fernández after she claimed in a post that “any school teacher has more work ethic in their pinky finger than Elon Musk has in his entire body”.
Bakke is the founder and former CEO of Laskie, a job-search platform acquired by Twitter in 2023—one of Musk’s earliest acquisitions following his purchase of the social media company. After the takeover, Bakke joined Twitter, later rebranded as X, where he worked closely with Musk.
When I reported to Elon, we would have X product meetings at 5 or 6pm (because he was with the Tesla team for 10 hours before that), then my 1:1 checkin would be at 10pm, but that would regularly get moved to 11pm or midnight or 1am.
— Chris Bakke (@ChrisJBakke) November 20, 2025
Usually around 2am, he’d go take a nap for a… https://t.co/xwsFkToRgv
Countering Fernández’s remark, Bakke described Musk’s daily routine as intensely demanding, saying the billionaire routinely worked more than 12 hours a day and survived largely on short naps. He explained that Musk spent his mornings and afternoons at Tesla before shifting focus to X in the evenings, holding product meetings at around 5 or 6pm.
Bakke’s own one-on-one meetings with Musk were scheduled for 10pm, but these were frequently delayed to midnight or even 1am due to Musk’s packed schedule. “When I reported to Elon, we would have X product meetings at 5 or 6pm (because he was with the Tesla team for 10 hours before that), then my 1:1 check-in would be at 10pm, but that would regularly get moved to 11pm or midnight or 1am,” he said.
According to Bakke, Musk typically took a brief nap at around 2am in the office before restarting the cycle, maintaining this routine seven days a week across his various companies.
Musk has long been known for his punishing work habits. He previously told podcast host Joe Rogan that he sleeps “about six hours” a night. In a 2023 interview with CNBC, he admitted that dropping below six hours gives him “brain pain,” adding he tried to sleep less, but, even though he is awake more hours, he gets less done.
