Topics

a la mode

AI

Amazon

Article image

Image Credits:Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu / Getty Images

Apps

Biotech & Health

Climate

Article image

Image Credits:Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu / Getty Images

Cloud Computing

Commerce Department

Crypto

US President Donald Trump

Enterprise

EVs

Fintech

U.S. President Donald Trump and White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk deliver remarks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Fundraising

contraption

gage

Waymo self driving car waiting at a city intersection in San Francisco

Google

Government & Policy

Hardware

plane in flight over Washington Monument

Instagram

layoff

Media & Entertainment

Meta

Microsoft

Privacy

Robotics

Security

societal

Space

Startups

TikTok

transport

speculation

More from TechCrunch

event

Startup Battlefield

StrictlyVC

Podcasts

TV

Partner Content

TechCrunch Brand Studio

Crunchboard

touch Us

grant to a raw , brow - raisingWSJ report , Tesla ’s display panel quiet start search for Elon Musk ’s possible successor about a month ago , approaching executive search business firm as the carmaker confront protestation , plummeting sale , and shrivel up profit while Musk pack into Washington to slash governance outlay .

table members reportedly met with Musk to express care about his separate attending , telling him he needed to pass more prison term on Tesla and to in public institutionalize to doing so ; per the Journal story , Musk did n’t push back and subsequently told investors he would “ apportion far more time to Tesla ” starting in May .

Tesla chair Robyn Denholmsaidin a command release overnight that it was “ absolutely simulated ” that the company approached recruitment firms . She also claim “ this was communicated to the metier before the reputation was issue . ” Musk shared the statement and fence it was an “ EXTREMELY forged BREACH OF ETHICS . ” The WSJ has since articulate Teslanever react to the reporters ’ questions .

Musk ’s government work led to Tesla ’s first one-year sales declination in over a decade ; it also tarnished the company ’s marque image among some consumers due to his political conjunction . The impact has been dissolute and furious : Tesla ’s market economic value   dropped from $ 1.5 trillion in December to about $ 900 billion currently .

Despite these challenge , Musk sounded optimistic about Tesla ’s future tense during last hebdomad ’s earnings call , where the society reported a 71 % profit decline and 9 % revenue drop-off . ”We’re not on the ragged edge of death , ” Musk assure investors , “ not even close . ”

The current condition of the succession provision stay undecipherable , according to the Journal . It adds that it ’s unclear whether Musk , who has run Tesla for nearly 20 years , was aware of the drive .

This account has been update to let in instruction from Tesla and the WSJ .

Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

Grok is unpromptedly telling X users about South African ‘white genocide’

Elon Musk took a chainsaw to the US government — Tesla is taking the hit

Latest in Transportation

Waymo recalls 1,200 robotaxis following low-speed collisions with gates and chains

A new bipartisan bill aims to lift the 52-year ban on supersonic flight

Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters