In response to a brand new, brow-raising WSJ report, Tesla’s board quietly started looking for Elon Musk’s potential successor a few month in the past, approaching government search corporations because the carmaker confronted protests, plummeting gross sales, and shrinking income whereas Musk waded into Washington to slash authorities spending.
Board members reportedly met with Musk to precise considerations about his divided consideration, telling him he wanted to spend extra time on Tesla and to publicly decide to doing so; per the Journal report, Musk didn’t push again and subsequently advised traders he would “allocate much more time to Tesla” beginning in Might.
Musk’s authorities work led to Tesla’s first annual gross sales decline in over a decade; it additionally tarnished the corporate’s model picture amongst some shoppers as a result of his political alignment. The impression has been quick and livid: Tesla’s market worth dropped from $1.5 trillion in December to about $900 billion presently.
Regardless of these challenges, Musk sounded optimistic about Tesla’s future throughout final week’s earnings name, the place the corporate reported a 71% revenue decline and 9% income drop.”We’re not on the ragged fringe of dying,” Musk assured traders, “not even shut.”
The present standing of the succession planning stays unclear, in response to the Journal, which provides that it’s unclear whether or not Musk was conscious of the trouble.