Will Musk lose his throne at Tesla?

Tesla’s board of directors quickly refuted a Wall Street Journal article, assuring that Elon Musk retains the full confidence of investors to lead the company and that no search for a successor is underway.

Exclusive: About a month ago, with Tesla’s profits sinking and some investors worried about Elon Musk’s White House focus, the company’s board got serious about looking for a CEO to succeed him.

— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) 2025-05-01T14:00:27.400Z

It was on X, the billionaire’s social network, that Elon Musk’s defenders, including Tesla Chairman Robyn Denholm, denounced the erroneous Wall Street Journal report.

In her view, the claim that Tesla commissioned recruitment firms to find Musk’s successor is unfounded.

On X, Robyn Denholm even claims that the Wall Street Journal had been informed by the board of directors that these rumors were unfounded, before taking the decision to publish the article evoking plans to replace Elon Musk.

Tesla shares have fallen by around 30% since the start of the year.

The reasons for this decline are falling sales, growing competition, particularly from Chinese automakers, and concerns about Elon Musk’s controversial political involvement, which have clearly damaged the brand’s image.

Elon Musk and some members of Tesla publicly criticized the Wall Street Journal following the publication, with the billionaire criticizing the paper for failing to include in the article a “categorical denial” formulated by Tesla.

The Wall Street Journal has been owned since 2007 by News Corp, the media group controlled by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News.

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