According to the WSJ report, Tesla’s board of directors quietly began searching for a potential successor to Elon Musk about a month ago, approaching executive search firms while the automaker faced protests, plunging sales and cutting profits.
Board members reportedly met with Musk to express concern about his split attention, and he said he needed to spend more time with Tesla and commit to doing so publicly. According to a journal report, the masks did not push back, and then told investors that they would “allocate much more time to Tesla” from May.
Tesla Chairman Robin Denholm said in a statement released overnight that the company was “absolutely false” to approach the employer. She also claimed that “this was communicated to the media before the report was published.” Musk shared the statement, claiming it was a “very bad violation of ethics.” The WSJ has said that Tesla has never answered the reporter’s questions since.
Musk’s government work led to Tesla’s first annual decline in sales for over a decade. His political alignment also damaged the company’s brand image among some consumers. The impact is fast and furious. Tesla’s market value fell from $1.5 trillion in December to about $900 billion today.
Despite these challenges, Musk sounded optimistic about Tesla’s future on last week’s revenue call. There, the company reported a 71% decline in profits and a 9% decline in revenues.
According to the journal, the current status of the inheritance plan remains unknown. It is unclear whether Musk, who has been running Tesla for nearly 20 years, knew about the efforts.
This story has been updated to include statements from Tesla and the WSJ.
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