Elon Musk and Tesla’s Chair have strongly responded to claims that the billionaire is seeking to be replaced in his role.
Recently, Elon Musk has been dedicating considerable time to the White House, assisting Donald Trump through his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency, which has arguably diverted his attention from his various business ventures.
Musk continues to lead Tesla as its CEO, yet he faces criticism from investors over his perceived lack of attention to the company in recent months.
In March, Ross Gerber, an early investor in Tesla, urged Musk to step down as CEO, expressing concern over Musk’s apparent neglect of the company.
During an interview with Sky News, Gerber stated: “The company’s reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk. It’s time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long.”
“There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing but find a suitable CEO of Tesla.”
Subsequently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla’s board reached out to executive placement firms in March to find a successor for Musk as CEO, based on information from unnamed sources.
However, both Musk and the company’s Chair have refuted these claims.
Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s Chair, dismissed the allegations made by the publication, asserting that it was mistaken regarding the board’s actions.
Through Tesla’s official Twitter account, Denholm released a statement: “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.”
Elon Musk also criticized the report and seemed notably frustrated by the claims.
He has recently announced plans to reduce his involvement with Trump’s administration and to concentrate more on his role at Tesla.
On Twitter, Musk responded: “Musk denounced the Wall Street Journal report on X on Thursday. He 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!”