Tesla and Elon Musk are pushing back against a report claiming the company’s board launched a search for a successor to the mercurial CEO last month as he spent time away from the company leading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that the board had reached out to executive search firms to initiate a formal process to identify potential replacements for Musk as the electric car maker grapples with slowing sales, shrinking profits and a bruising year on the stock market.
The report, which cited sources familiar with the matter, triggered an immediate reaction from investors and sent Tesla’s stock down as much as 3% in after-hours trading on Robinhood before recovering some of the losses.
Musk reacted to the Journal report, writing on X: “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!”
In a subsequent post, Musk wrote: “WSJ is a discredit to journalism.”
Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm, who has sold more than $150 million in company stock since December, also took to the social media platform X to denounce the story.
“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,” Denholm wrote on Tesla’s official X account.
“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.”
The Post has sought comment from the Journal. The Journal, like The Post, is a subsidiary of News Corp.
The timing of the report comes at a challenging moment for Tesla.
The company recently reported a significant drop in both revenue and net income for the first quarter of 2025, falling short of Wall Street expectations.
Tesla’s total revenue for the January-March period fell 9% year-over-year to $19.34 billion, well below the $21.11 billion forecast by analysts, according to LSEG data.
Revenue from Tesla’s core automotive business fell even more sharply — down 20% to $14 billion.
The company attributed the decline to several factors, including lower average selling prices, increased sales incentives and temporary factory shutdowns as Tesla prepares to launch a refreshed version of its popular Model Y SUV.
Meanwhile, net income plunged 71% to $409 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with $1.39 billion, or 41 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Since the start of 2025, Tesla shares have tumbled more than 30%, reflecting investor concerns about the company’s margins, slowing demand for electric vehicles and Musk’s divided focus.
Last week, Musk revealed on Tesla’s earnings call that he plans to spend just “a day or two per week” heading up DOGE, an initiative tied to the Trump administration that has raised questions about his commitment to Tesla.
Musk has acknowledged that his increasingly overt political presence may be having an adverse effect on Tesla’s stock, though he has remained defiant about his leadership and long-term vision for the company.
Despite the volatility, Denholm’s statement reinforced the board’s confidence in Musk’s leadership, signaling that — at least for now — there are no plans to search for a new chief executive.
