Tesla has denied reports it has contacted recruitment firms to being a search for a chief executive to replace Elon Musk.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the electric car maker’s board members had reached out to several several executive search firms around a month ago as tensions mounted at the firm over falling sales and Mr Musk’s increasing time spent in Washington DC as an advisor to President Donald Trump.
But in a statement on Thursday morning, Tesla said the reports were “absolutely false”.
“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 firm’s chairwoman Robyn Denholm said.
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.
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 1, 2025
This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published).
The CEO of Tesla is…
In his own posts to X, which he also owns, Mr Musk called the report “deliberately false”.
The report had said that Tesla’s board had told Mr Musk that he needed to spend more time focused on the electric car firm, and that he needed to say so publicly.
The billionaire said on a Tesla earnings call last week that he would be allocating more of his time to Tesla and said he would be “significantly” cutting back on his work for President Trump’s government.
Mr Musk’s leadership of the newly-created advisory body the department for government efficiency, or doge, has been widely criticised and seen as controversial, as it had overseen widespread cuts to the US government.
This, alongside his increasingly controversial political views, has sparked protests at Tesla dealerships around the world, and pledges from many to boycott the firm.
