Tesla board members are looking for a successor to CEO Elon Musk as reported on Wednesday. It seems Tesla’s board had contacted many executive placement firms to look for a new CEO as Elon Musk’s replacement. The need for Tesla leadership change comes due to rise in investor concern over Musk’s divided attention, with him at the helm of U.S. DOGE and Tesla’s falling stock price.
Just last week, Musk had said he would cut back significantly on the time he devotes to the current administration and spend more time running Tesla.
Tesla board’s need for CEO search
The stunning revelation of CEO replacement comes as the board has narrowed its search. It is unclear whether Musk is aware of the discussions or how the succession planning will unfold.
Tesla is at a crucial juncture. The investors have become cautious as Musk has pivoted from his promise of making a new affordable EV platform by highlighting Tesla’s future as an AI and robotics company instead of an automaker.
Tesla executive transition amid falling sales
Tesla’s sales have fallen drastically as protests and boycotts intensify over Musk’s political involvement. Tesla’s profit has plummeted by 2/3rds in 2025. Also, there is increased competition with more companies seizing the opportunities to gain market share globally. Tesla’s Q1 sales and profit plunged as reported last week. Also, Tesla’s earnings had a shocking fall of 71%.
Tesla’s revenue for Q1 fell below Wall Street’s forecast from $21.3 billion to $19.3 billion.
Tesla’s stock falling
It seems the board’s patient is wearing thin as Tesla’s stock price tumbled as much as 45% in 2025, before recovering somewhat amid a broader stock market rebound.
On Wednesday, Tesla’s stock has fallen by 3.4% to 282.16, back below the 200-day line.
Does Musk want to leave Tesla?
There has been times in recent months where Musk has expressed that he no longer wants to be CEO of Tesla, as per a report. Though Musk reportedly said that the replacement would fail to realize his vision for Tesla, but he was motivated to leave anyway.
It seems his desire to leave Tesla also stems from the fact that he lost another court battle to receive his exorbitantly high pay package, the largest for any public company on record.
Musk owns 410 million shares of Tesla stock outright, equal to 12.8% of the company’s outstanding shares. He has also been granted options to buy an additional 304 million shares as his compensation for running the company since 2018.
Tesla and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
