In keeping with a brand new, brow-raising WSJ report, Tesla’s board quietly started trying to find 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 earnings whereas Musk waded into Washington to slash authorities spending.
Board members reportedly met with Musk to specific issues 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 buyers he would “allocate way 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 because 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 at the moment.
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 loss of life,” Musk assured buyers, “not even shut.”
The present standing of the succession planning stays unclear, in keeping with the Journal. It provides that it’s unclear whether or not Musk, who has run Tesla for almost 20 years, was conscious of the hassle.
