Camilla Jessen
The billionaire calls the report a serious ethical breach.
Elon Musk and Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm have forcefully denied a report by The Wall Street Journal claiming that Tesla is searching for a replacement CEO, calling the story “completely false” and “misleading.”
The Wall Street Journal article, published earlier this week, stated that Tesla’s board had begun quietly working with executive search firms to identify potential successors to Musk.
Citing unnamed sources, the report suggested the board was concerned about Musk’s divided focus across multiple ventures—including SpaceX, X, and Neuralink—as well as Tesla’s recent financial headwinds.
The story quickly gained global attention.
“Elon Musk is Tesla’s CEO,” Denholm said in a statement. “The report is completely false. The publication was notified of this before it went to press.”
Musk himself took to X, the social media platform he owns, to respond more directly.
In a post written in all caps, he accused The Wall Street Journal of ethical misconduct.
It is an EXTREMELY SERIOUS BREACH OF ETHICS for the WSJ to publish a DEFINITELY FALSE ARTICLE.
Musk criticized the outlet for failing to make Tesla’s denial more prominent in its coverage.
No Leadership Change Underway
Both Denholm and Musk maintain that there are no ongoing efforts to replace the CEO and that Tesla’s leadership structure remains unchanged.
The company has not issued an official press release on the matter, but the strong personal statements from Musk and Denholm are a rare and public rebuke of a major financial news outlet.
As of the time of this article’s publication, The Wall Street Journal has not retracted the report.
The newspaper, known for its rigorous financial journalism, has stood by its reporting. The broader context includes rising investor scrutiny of Musk’s time allocation, as Tesla faces slowing sales, rising competition in the EV market, and political challenges in key global markets.
Musk, who remains one of the most high-profile CEOs globally and the world’s richest person, has repeatedly said he has no plans to leave Tesla.