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…
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 1, 2025
Tesla has denied reports that it has contacted recruitment firms to find a replacement for Elon Musk as chief executive. The electric car company said the report was “absolutely false.”
Tesla has been pronounced dead many times
We’ll be just fine, thanks to you – our owners, employees & supporters
♥️
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 30, 2025
Robyn Denholm, the chair of Tesla, stated, “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.”
On the WSJ/Musk article; While this was a very tense situation, we believe Musk clearly did the right thing and we believe Musk will remain CEO for at least five years at Tesla and we would be surprised if the Board was still heading down this path. The Board did a warning shot.
— Dan Ives (@DivesTech) May 1, 2025
She added, “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.”
The denial comes after it was reported, citing unnamed sources, that Mr.
Musk was told by the board he needed to spend more time on Tesla and that he needed to say so publicly. Last week, Mr. Musk said on a conference call about earnings, “I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” and pledged to “significantly” cut back his government role.
Mr. Musk was heavily critical of the reporting. “It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that this deliberately false article and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors,” he said.
He later reposted a comment from a user on X that called the report “trash.”
Mr.
Tesla board dismisses CEO search claims
Musk’s leadership of the newly created advisory body – the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) – has attracted a lot of criticism.
Some customers of Tesla, citing Mr. Musk’s controversial political views and actions while in charge of Doge, have pledged to boycott the firm or staged protests against it, in some cases causing criminal damage to dealerships. In March, Trump – with Mr.
Musk by his side – told reporters at the White House that anyone using violence against Tesla would “go through hell.” He pledged to buy a red Model-S to support the electric car firm. Mr. Musk has indicated he will step back from government work, intending to spend only one to two days a week on Trump administration matters.
However, it is unclear exactly when and how this transition will take place. Tesla continues to face various challenges, but the board remains confident in Mr. Musk’s leadership and ability to drive growth moving forward.