Ditching Elon Musk: Tesla frantically denies reports they’re lining up his replacement

It can’t be easy working at the ongoing toxification of their once-respected brand.

All of which means the Wall Street Journal’s revelation that they’ve actively begun a search for a calmer and saner person to replace him makes a lot of sense. The newspaper reports that the hunt for a new CEO began about a month ago, with the board reaching out to executive search firms to quietly make enquiries about who might be interested.

But, awkwardly, it appears that this was done behind Musk’s back while he’s busy wreaking havoc at DOGE and the first he learned of his potential ousting was with this report. As such, the proverbial has very much hit the fan, with Musk racing to X to post a rather Trumpy denial dubbing it “DELIBERATELY FALSE” and an “EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS”:

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! https://t.co/9xdypLGg3c

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2025

Tesla have put out a denial of their own, insisting that they remain “highly confident” in Musk and his “ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.” All that said, it’s difficult to argue that the Tesla board shouldn’t be feeling extremely nervous about plummeting sales, with the company delivering 13% fewer vehicles in Q1 2025 than they did in Q1 2024.

Whether Musk likes it or not, the board has a duty to their shareholders to maintain growth, and there are growing demands from investors to jettison Musk before the company’s situation becomes terminal. For example, prominent Tesla investor Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management didn’t mince words, saying “these numbers suck” and the “business has totally eroded”, pointing to the disastrous Cybertruck as a major misstep that must be corrected:

These numbers suck. Tesla other models (Cybertruck, S and X) sold only 12,881 versus last year 17,027. This is down 25%. The high end EV business has totally eroded. The cybertruck is basically not selling. The brand is broken and may not be fixable. The BOD is 100% responsible…

— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) April 2, 2025

All of which leads us to believe that, despite Musk and Tesla’s denials, the notion of ditching him in the hopes of saving the brand from disaster must have been discussed in some capacity by the Tesla board. Whether that includes actively tasking headhunters to find a replacement as soon as possible remains to be seen, but this juicy drama means we’ll likely find out sooner rather than later.