Tesla chair denies plans to look for new CEO to replace Musk

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm on Thursday denied a Wall Street Journal report that said board members had reached out to executive search firms to find a new replacement for CEO Elon Musk.

The Journal had reported on Wednesday Tesla's board members had reached out about a month ago to several executive search firms to find a new CEO, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Denholm called the report "absolutely false" and said on X the EV maker's board is "highly confident" in Musk's ability to "continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead".

Musk said on X the report was a "deliberately false article". Activist investors have long accused Tesla's board of lacking independence and failing to rein in Musk.

Tesla is at a crucial juncture. Musk has pivoted from his promise of making a new affordable EV platform to rolling out driverless taxis and humanoid robots, highlighting Tesla's future as an AI and robotics company instead of an automaker.

However, shares have been sliding for months, as its EV sales have slumped in the US and Europe in a backlash to his embrace of far-right politics and as competitors have started to take up market share with newer models.

Musk's role in the Trump administration overseeing efforts to cut federal jobs has resulted in a considerable resentment in the US.

His work at the Department of Government Efficiency has been one of the most controversial aspects of the Trump presidency, and his time away from Tesla has been an added concern for investors as sales of its aging EV lineup have been declining.

Musk said last week he would cut back significantly on the time he devotes to the Trump administration and spend more time running Tesla.

But his political shift has led to protests against Musk and the company, as well as vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations in the US and Europe.

Shares of Tesla were up marginally in Thursday premarket action. The company's sales plunged again in France and Denmark in April, dropping 59 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively, from a year ago.

The board members met Musk and asked him to acknowledge publicly that he would spend more time at Tesla, the WSJ report said.

It was unclear if Musk - also a board member - was aware of succession planning, or if his pledge to spend more time at Tesla has affected the efforts, the report said.

Much of the company's valuation is based on that vision and some investors say Trump will help further it. Last week, federal regulators eased rules for testing autonomous vehicles, boosting Tesla's stock.

Some Tesla directors, including co-founder JB Straubel, have been meeting with major investors to reassure them the company is in good hands, the WSJ said.

Denholm, hand-picked by Musk whose controversial pay package she defended, has also drawn criticism for her own pay package along with questions on whether that compromised her oversight of Tesla and Musk.

Denholm has dismissed the allegations and a spokesperson has said her pay was fair.

In March, Denholm sold about $33.7 million worth of electric automaker's stock, according to a regulatory filing.

The eight-person Tesla board, which includes Musk's brother Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has been looking to add an independent director, the report said.