Elon Musk Erupts in Rage at News That Tesla Trying to Replace Him as CEO

With its sales falling off a cliff and profits vanishing into thin air, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Tesla quietly started looking for a replacement for CEO Elon Musk.

According to the newspaper's unnamed sources familiar with the discussions, board members reached out to several executive search firms to find the company's next CEO.

But it didn't take long for an incensed Musk to cry foul.

"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 raged online.

The company's board chair, Robyn Denholm, also pushed back against the newspaper's reporting, asserting that "Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead."

But considering the extremely biased nature of Tesla's board, which critics have accused of being lined with Musk's "sycophants," it's hard to get an exact read on what kind of discussions actually took place.

Did members of the company's board, who have historically been extremely loyal to Musk and his vision, really go behind his back to line up a successor?

And if they did, would Musk have been aware of those efforts, especially considering how laser-focused he's been on gutting the government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency — the exact absenteeism and divisiveness that the board would have forced the board's hand, if the WSJ's sources are to be believed?

Regardless of the legitimacy of the WSJ's sources — and we should point out that the paper's business reporting is some of the most reliable in the world, so we're doubtful at the claim that the story is completely false — Musk and the board's extremely heated reaction to the reporting does paint a picture of a company in chaos.

Investors have long accused Musk of abandoning the carmaker. His outrageous public behavior and admitted drug use have dragged Tesla's brand through the mud, triggering international protests. Musk's public approval, which before his turn into hard-right politics was extraordinarily high, has plummeted into the gutter.

All that negative baggage is now taking a clear toll, with Tesla reporting that its net income had dropped by an astonishing 71 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

Recouping lost brand appeal could soon prove challenging, especially if Musk doubles down on ripping apart the federal government. In an interview with Axios this week, the CEO admitted that DOGE was "not as effective as I like," hinting at the possibility that he would stay on at the pseudo-department through 2028.

That likely won't appease shaken Tesla investors. During the company's first-quarter earnings call, Musk promised that he would spend more time at the carmaker and less time at DOGE, news that sent the company's stock price soaring.

And it appears that Musk has had some regrets about watching his carmaker both figuratively and literally go up in flames, the result of his own reckless actions.

"Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun," he told Axios. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."

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