According to a new, toasted WSJ reportThe Tesla Board of Directors started quietly looking for the possible successor to Elon Musk about a month ago, approaching the search companies, as the carmaker faced protests, falls sales and shrinking profits, while Musk fell to Washington.
Members of the Board of Directors met with Musk to express concerns about his divided attention, telling him that he had to spend more time in Tesla and to publicly commit to doing so. According to the magazine’s report, Musk did not push back and then told investors that he would “spend much more time to Tesla” starting in May.
President Tesla Robyn Denholm said In a statement released at night that it was “absolutely false” that the company approached the recruitment companies. He also claimed that “this was announced in the media before the publication of the report”. Musk shared the statement and argued that it was an “extremely bad violation of morality”. WSJ has said since then tesla Never responded to journalists’ questions.
Musk’s government work has led to the first annual reduction in Tesla’s sales in over a decade. It also tarnishes the image of the company’s brand among some consumers because of its political alignment. The impact was fast and furious: Tesla’s market value decreased from $ 1.5 trillion in December to about $ 900 billion today.
Despite these challenges, Musk sounded optimistic about Tesla’s future during last week’s profits, where the company reported a 71% profit decline and revenue decrease by 9%.
The current status of succession design remains unclear, according to the magazine. He adds that it is not clear if Musk, who has run Tesla for almost 20 years, was aware of the effort.
This story has been informed to include statements by Tesla and WSJ.
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