Tesla denies launching search for Elon Musk replacement

Tesla has denied reports that it has contacted recruitment firms to launch a search for a replacement for Elon Musk as chief executive.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the electric car firm’s board began looking for a successor to Mr Musk last month.

It said this was because of frustration around Mr Musk’s focus on his job in US President Donald Trump’s administration and Tesla’s sinking share price.

However, in statement on Thursday, Tesla said the report was “absolutely false”, adding “the board is highly confident in [Mr Musk’s] ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead”.

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm wrote on Mr Musk’s social media platform X: “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 Elon Musk,” she added.

The denial comes after the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, wrote that Mr Musk was told by the board he needed to spend more time on Tesla and that he needed to say so publicly.

The paper said Mr Musk did not push back against the suggestion. Last week, he said on a conference call about earnings “I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla”.