Tesla reportedly went looking for a new CEO. Elon Musk denies it.
Was Tesla's board looking to replace Elon Musk as CEO?
A surprising new report from The Wall Street Journal claims Tesla's board sought to replace Elon Musk with a new CEO. However, since the report was published, Musk has denied the accuracy of the WSJ's reporting.
In a late-night post on X, Musk wrote, "It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!" Musk also shared an official statement from Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, which called the report "absolutely false."
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According to the report, some Tesla board members were "irritated" with Musk's lack of focus on Tesla. Musk famously stepped away from running his EV car company to take on a new gig with the Trump administration as a special government employee. Musk has been closely involved with a controversial government cost-cutting effort known as DOGE. The WSJ reports this prompted the Tesla board members to contact executive search firms to start the process of finding a new CEO for Tesla.
The WSJ reports that the Tesla board members were close to working with one major executive search firm. In addition to a new CEO, Tesla's board was reportedly searching for an independent director to add to the company as well.
In March, a long-time Tesla investor urged Musk to either return to the company or resign as CEO. And after a dismal earnings report in April, Musk said he would step away from DOGE and devote "far more" time to Tesla.
"Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company," Denholm's statement reads. "This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead."
Tesla has been struggling in recent months, ever since Musk started working with President Donald Trump and DOGE.
Musk's EV car company reported a 71 percent drop in profit for the most recent quarter. Tesla attributed much of this to boycotts and protests against Tesla, Musk, and DOGE. Tesla sales have fallen around the world as a result. Many Tesla owners have also been looking to get rid of their EVs due to the company's ties with Musk.