Tesla considering leadership shake-up? Report suggests Elon Musk could be ‘replaced’ as CEO

Tesla approached numerous executive search firms months ago to find a successor for CEO Elon Musk, WSJ reported, citing sources, adding that the current status of the succession planning could not be assessed. Now, Elon Musk has rejected these claims, calling them an “extremely bad breach of ethics.”

According to reports, the EV manufacturer has experienced declining sales and profits, while investor concerns have grown over Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has spearheaded federal job reduction efforts.

Tesla and Musk refute leadership change claims

Musk on Thursday reacted to news reports claiming that the EV company has started searching for his successor. He called it an “extremely bad breach of ethics”. 

“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 said.

Tesla posted on X refuting these allegations and saying they were “absolutely false,” adding that “the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

“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. 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 posted on X.

Musk last month vowed to “significantly” cut back from his work in DOGE from May to working a day or two per week, he informed investors on a conference call, Reuters had reported.

His 130-day appointment as a special government employee under the Trump administration is scheduled to conclude in late May.

DOGE is an advisory body established during President Donald Trump's second administration to reduce federal spending and streamline government operations.

The WSJ report added that it remained unclear whether Musk, also a member of the board, was aware of succession planning. 

Musk's political involvement has sparked global outrage and boycotts against Tesla's cars. In February, in an appearance at the White House, the tech billionaire denied leading a "hostile takeover" of the US government. “The people voted for major government reform, and that's what the people are going to get. That's what democracy is all about,” he had said.

Know about Tesla

Headquartered in Austin, Tesla has manufacturing facilities across the globe, including Fremont (USA), Shanghai (China), Berlin (Germany), and Austin (USA). Founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla saw Elon Musk join as a major investor in 2004. He became CEO in 2008. 

It has a range of electric vehicles, including Model S (2012), Model X (2015), Model 3 (2017), Cybertruck (2023) and others.

The firm, in April, stated that sales had dropped to their lowest level in three years and alerted investors that "changing political sentiment" could continue to hurt demand, reports said. 

Tesla had an all-time valuation high of $1.5 trillion on December 17. However, within less than three months, the company's stock price dropped by 45%.

Meanwhile, Tesla stock was indicated to see a modest decline on Robinhood Wednesday night. In the regular trading session on Wednesday, Tesla's stock dropped 3.4 per cent, closing at $282.16, slipping back below the 200-day moving average.