Elon Musk on Thursday blasted The Wall Street Journal over a report that Tesla’s board of administrators is trying to recruit a brand new chief govt to switch the billionaire within the high job.
The Journal on Wednesday reported that “a couple of month in the past” Tesla’s board began reaching out to recruiting companies to formalize a course of to discover a new CEO. The corporate continues to face large challenges as evidenced by its disastrous first-quarter earnings.
Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm signed a post on Tesla’s account on X, previously Twitter, dismissing the Journal’s report as “completely false,” claiming “this was communicated to the media earlier than the report was printed.”
“The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is extremely assured in his means to proceed executing on the thrilling development plan forward,” she wrote.
The Journal has not addressed Denholm’s assertion as of Thursday morning.
Denholm offered over $32 million price of Tesla shares on Tuesday, Securities and Change Fee filings cited by Electrek show, fueling hypothesis about her personal future on the board.
Within the meantime, Musk cited Denholm’s phrases, whereas blasting the Journal for publishing its story.
“It’s an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to incorporate an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of administrators!” he wrote on X.
The Journal’s report, nonetheless, famous that Musk didn’t return its requests for remark previous to publication.
Tesla released its first-quarter financial results last week, displaying its whole income for the primary three months of 2025 fell 9.4% from the yr prior, lacking Wall Avenue expectations by about $1.8 billion.
In the course of the earnings name, Musk said he would begin spending much less time working the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, which has wreaked havoc on the federal authorities in its effort to dramatically downsize it.
“The massive slug of labor essential to get the DOGE workforce in place and dealing with the federal government to get the monetary home so as is usually finished, and I believe beginning in all probability subsequent month, Might, my time allocation to DOGE will drop considerably,” he mentioned.
His feedback appeared to additionally align with a request by Tesla’s board a couple of month in the past for him to spend extra time working the corporate and make that recognized publicly, in line with the Journal.
Tesla seems to have suffered as Musk prioritized his work for Trump.
In an interview with main newspapers and TV networks, Musk claimed DOGE has made financial savings of $160 billion, according to The New York Times, which famous that the cost-cutting initiative’s “wall of receipts” accounts for under a fraction of that.
Throughout a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Donald Trump praised Musk — a high surrogate for him on the 2024 marketing campaign path — for what he described as his “incredible” work in authorities.
“You actually have sacrificed loads, been handled very unfairly,” Trump mentioned.
“You’re invited to remain so long as you need,” the president continued. “Sooner or later, I assume, he needs to get again residence to his automobiles.”
Correction: A earlier model of this text misstated the worth of the Tesla shares Robyn Denholm offered Tuesday. They had been price $32 million.
