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Is Tesla going into meltdown? Board denies CEO swap as Elon fumes over DOGE drama and Trump ties.
Credit score: Iv-olga, Shutterstock
Tesla’s boardroom has reportedly shifted into excessive gear — and never within the course their CEO would really like. Executives have allegedly launched a cloak-and-dagger hunt for Elon Musk’s alternative on the prime of the electrical automobile big. And the billionaire boss isn’t taking it quietly.
In keeping with The Wall Avenue Journal, Tesla secretly contacted headhunting corporations a few month in the past in a transfer that sparked panic in Planet Musk. The seek for a successor reportedly started as Musk’s public repute took a nosedive — dragged down by his controversial authorities position below Donald Trump and his current political flirtations in Europe.
Tesla’s prime brass have been pressured into injury management mode after an eyebrow-raising report from The Wall Avenue Journal claimed the board was procuring round for Musk’s alternative. The rationale? His eyebrow-raising bromance with Donald Trump and a tanking Tesla inventory value.
However simply as the electrical storm started to fry the circuits, the corporate screeched out a pointy denial.
“Completely false,” barked Tesla chair Robyn Denholm on X. “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the board is very assured in his potential to proceed executing on the thrilling progress plan forward.”
And Elon? He went into DEFCON CAPS LOCK, unleashing fury on his social media platform X:
“It’s an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to incorporate an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of administrators!”
He even reposted a remark calling the Journal “trash.” Ouch.
DOGE gone rogue?
On the coronary heart of the controversy is Musk’s facet hustle as head of Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity — additionally recognized, cheekily, as DOGE. Musk has been main a authorities purge of jaw-dropping scale, axing tens of hundreds of federal staff within the identify of ‘effectivity’. The backlash? Tesla showrooms trashed, charging stations vandalised, and model loyalty nosediving sooner than a Cybertruck in freefall.
Critics say Musk’s controversial politics have poisoned the Tesla model. Protesters have boycotted, marched, and even smashed up dealerships — from California to Cologne. Even former die-hard followers are ditching their Teslas and brazenly protesting in opposition to the model on social media channels.
Trump within the driving seat?
In the meantime, again in Washington, Trump isn’t backing off. He instructed reporters in March — with Musk beaming beside him on the White Home garden — that anybody caught vandalising Tesla property would “undergo hell.”
He then promised to purchase a cherry-red Mannequin S from the line-up parked exterior, declaring his loyalty to the model. The scene seemed extra like a marketing campaign advert than a press occasion — and sparked much more outrage amongst Musk detractors.
Trump added that Musk might keep in his authorities position “so long as I might maintain him,” regardless of the authorized restrict of 130 working days for short-term federal appointments, which Musk is about to hit by late Might.
Tesla boardroom panic or enterprise as typical?
In keeping with the WSJ, Tesla’s board grew more and more alarmed at Musk’s distraction from the corporate and requested him to publicly recommit. He didn’t argue, apparently. And in an earnings name final week, Musk performed ball, pledging to “allocate much more of my time to Tesla” and considerably cut back his DOGE duties.
Nonetheless, the injury might already be accomplished. Tesla’s share value is within the gutter, Musk’s internet value has taken a wallop, and protests are piling up like charging cables at a motorway companies.
So is he staying or going?
Tesla says nobody’s changing him. Musk says it’s faux information. Trump says he’s welcome to remain. Traders say… perhaps time to look below the bonnet?
One factor’s for certain — when Musk is concerned, there’s no such factor as a quiet week.
Verdict: He’s the world’s richest man, the poster boy for EVs, and now the lightning rod for a political firestorm. Whether or not Musk can steer Tesla out of this PR pothole stays to be seen — however buckle up. The highway forward seems to be bumpy.
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