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Elon Musk and Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm have reacted angrily to a report the electric car manufacturer is headhunting for a new CEO to replace the world’s richest man.
On Wednesday The Wall Street Journal suggested Tesla reached out to executive search firms a month ago following a drastic drop in profits, to get the ball rolling on a successor.
Lashing out at 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!”
His post echoed comments from Denholm dismissing the story as “absolutely false” and reiterating: “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.”
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But the newspaper acknowledged that the extent of progress made so far “couldn’t be determined” and whether or not the current CEO was aware of the situation was unclear.
Both the billionaire’s net worth and Tesla’s stock price have plunged dramatically in recent months, with the latter’s profits declining 71 percent in the first quarter. The damaging financial news came after Musk founded the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new agency tasked with slashing excess federal expenditure and alleged fraud that has fired tens of thousands of government employees.
Musk – who has led Tesla for almost 20 years and is its largest shareholder, owning around 13 percent of its stock – became increasingly politically active during last year’s presidential election, donating more than $250m to Trump’s campaign, pumping money into a recent Wisconsin judicial election while also expressing support for far-right parties in Europe, notably Alternative fur Deutschland.
The result has been a significant backlash against Tesla, with the company’s cars and dealerships vandalized in America and Europe in protest at Musk’s actions and the company losing ground in key EV markets like California, Germany and China.
Musk’s alliance with Trump has also been questioned given that the president’s trade war threatens Tesla’s supply chain, which relies heavily on the free movement of imports from countries like China and Mexico.
The CEO told investors recently that he would “continue to advocate for lower tariffs rather than higher tariffs, but that’s all I can do,” insisting the final decision on the matter was the president’s.
Tesla’s broader sustainability goals equally appear to be at odds with Trump’s pro-fossil fuel ideology of “drill baby drill.”
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The president has attempted to help out his special adviser by branding those responsible for targeting Tesla vehicles with arson attacks and graffiti “domestic terrorists” and instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
He has even played salesman to boost the company, whose market value has fallen from a record high of $1.5trn in December to $900bn, turning the White House lawn into a showroom forecourt in March for an event showcasing its products.
Musk himself has responded by stating that the amount of time he spends on DOGE will “drop significantly” from May to allow him to refocus his energies on Tesla, SpaceX and X, attempting to reassure his fellow investors during an April earnings call by stating: “Starting next month, I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla.”
However, President Trump appeared reluctant to lose his services at the White House on Wednesday, telling Musk at a cabinet meeting: “You’re invited to stay as long as you want… I guess he wants to get back home to his cars.”
Trump added that the tech tycoon had been “treated unfairly” by his detractors and paid tribute to his tenure in Washington by noting: “You really have sacrificed a lot.”
