Tesla board chair denies stories firm was seeking to change Elon Musk

[ad_1] Tesla chair Robyn Denholm on Thursday denied a Wall Road Journal report that stated board members had reached out to government search companies to discover a alternative for CEO Elon Musk.

The Journal had reported on Wednesday that a few month in the past, Tesla's board members had reached out to a number of government search companies to discover a new CEO, citing individuals aware of the discussions.

Denholm known as the report "completely false" and stated on X the EV maker's board is "extremely assured" in Musk's potential to "proceed executing on the thrilling development plan forward."

Musk stated on X the report was a "intentionally false article." Activist traders have lengthy accused Tesla's board of missing independence and failing to rein in Musk.

Tesla is at an important juncture. Musk has pivoted from his promise of constructing a brand new, inexpensive EV platform to rolling out driverless taxis and humanoid robots, highlighting Tesla's future as an AI and robotics firm quite than an automaker.

Nonetheless, shares have been sliding for months, as its EV gross sales have slumped within the U.S. and Europe in a backlash to his embrace of far-right politics and as opponents have began to take up market share with newer fashions.

Musk's position within the Trump administration overseeing efforts to chop federal jobs has resulted in appreciable resentment within the U.S. His work on the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) has been one of the controversial facets of the Trump presidency.

The position additionally took up a lot of the billionaire's time. Musk stated Wednesday that he was engaged on DOGE seven days every week in the course of the first months of the administration, at occasions sleeping within the Lincoln Bed room at Trump's invitation.

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Elon Musk's Tesla inventory worth took one other hit Thursday, regardless of Tuesday's "Trump Bump" on the White Home. The U.S. president showcased the billionaire and prime DOGE adviser's EVs on the entrance garden. The transfer was broadly seen as an effort to spice up Tesla's backside line. Monetary analyst Dan Ives joins the CBC's Dan Burritt to interrupt down what's taking place to Tesla. Musk informed reporters on Wednesday that he would spend one to 2 days on DOGE-related work every week going ahead, and that he'd be in Washington much less steadily.

Questions on Tesla model The political shift has led to protests in opposition to Musk and the corporate, in addition to vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations within the U.S., Europe and Canada.

Shares of Tesla had been up marginally in Thursday's pre-market motion. The corporate's inventory worth hit a excessive in December, however has greater than halved since then.

The board members met Musk and requested him to acknowledge publicly that he would spend extra time at Tesla, the WSJ report stated.

It was unclear if Musk — additionally a board member — was conscious of the succession planning, or if his pledge to spend extra time at Tesla has affected the efforts, the report stated.

A lot of the corporate's valuation relies on that imaginative and prescient and some traders say Trump will additional it. Final week, federal regulators eased guidelines for testing autonomous autos, boosting Tesla's inventory.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A woman wearing a toque and sunglasses holds a sign that says 'Stop Musk' outside a building." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7448747.1738585652!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/original_1180/usa-trump-opm.JPG?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.4993646759847523" data-cy="image-img"/> Folks collect to protest exterior the headquarters of the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM) in Washington, D.C., on Feb 2, 2025, after the Elon Musk-led Division of Authorities Effectivity was charged with oversight of OPM. (Kent Nishimura/Reuters) Some Tesla administrators, together with co-founder J.B. Straubel, have been assembly with main traders to reassure them the corporate is in good palms, the WSJ stated.

Denholm, hand-picked by Musk whose controversial pay bundle she defended, has drawn criticism for her personal pay bundle, together with questions on whether or not that compromised her oversight of Tesla and Musk. Denholm has dismissed the allegations and a spokesperson has stated her pay was honest.

In March, Denholm bought about $33.7 million US value of the electrical automaker's inventory, in accordance with a regulatory submitting.

The eight-person Tesla board, which incorporates Musk's brother Kimbal and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been wanting so as to add an unbiased director, the report stated.