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Tesla Inc., the leading electric vehicle manufacturer, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for his replacement. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the EV maker's board is looking for the company CEO's successor, and it has communicated with executive search firms to aid the process.
The report suggests that the search process began a month ago, when Musk devoted the majority of his time to working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump Administration. Musk's devotion to DOGE has resulted in brand Tesla taking a beating, with protests against him, the company and Tesla's products. The impact was evident in Tesla's most recent quarterly numbers as well.
Tesla's revenue for the first quarter fell 9%, while profits were down over 70% year-on-year. While the board has narrowed its focus to just one search firm, the current status of the succession planning isn’t clear, as per the WSJ report. Tesla's board has asked Musk to spend more time at the company, something that he reiterated during Tesla's post-earnings conference call as well.
He said that starting May, he will be devoting less time to DOGE, and only if the President wants him to. That had triggered a partial relief rally in the stock. In his sort of farewell speech to the Trump cabinet, Musk claimed that DOGE so far has managed to save $160 billion in costs, far lesser than his original projections.
“As everyone has said, it’s more than has been accomplished in any administration before. Ever. So this portends very well for what happens, for the rest of the administration,” Musk said.
Tesla is also facing stiff competition from Chinese EV manufacturer BYD, which is outpacing Elon Musk's company on many fronts. Tesla shares ended 3.4% lower in regular trading on Wednesday on Wall Street.
The stock has declined 3% in overnight trading on the trading platform Robinhood. (With Inputs From Agencies.).
