Tesla denies reports of searching for Elon Musk’s replacement as CEO

Tesla has firmly denied a report by The Wall Street Journal suggesting the company’s board had begun seeking a replacement for CEO Elon Musk.

The article, published Wednesday, cited anonymous sources claiming that board members were growing increasingly concerned about Musk’s divided attention—especially his involvement with President Donald Trump’s administration—and Tesla’s declining stock price. The report alleged that Tesla initiated contact with recruitment firms last month to begin searching for a new chief executive.

However, Tesla swiftly rejected the claims. “This is absolutely false,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

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 Chair Robyn Denholm also posted on X, stating, “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).” 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.”

Musk himself responded sharply, calling the Journal’s reporting “a discredit to journalism.” In a post on X, 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.” He later reposted a user’s comment labeling the outlet as “trash.”

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! https://t.co/9xdypLGg3c

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2025

The controversy comes shortly after Musk told investors on an earnings call that he would be “allocating far more of my time to Tesla” and that he planned to “significantly” reduce his government-related commitments.