Elon Musk Has Considered A Successor At Tesla, Board Member James Murdoch Says

Amidst the hustle and bustle in the life of Elon Musk – which recently has included not only managing SpaceX and The Boring Company, but endless trips to Delaware Chancery Court and shelling out $44 billion to buy Twitter – it appears that the controversial CEO is considering his replacement at Tesla.

Tesla board member James Murdoch made comments this week that were reported by electrek and Reuters indicating that Musk had a successor in mind for his role at the auto company that he has been the CEO of for nearly a decade. 

Ironically enough, Murdoch made the comments as he was “testifying in a trial over Musk’s 2018 Tesla pay package.”

Murdoch said that Musk has identified the potential successor in the “last few months”. 

As electrek notes, the comments come at a time when Musk is under intense scrutiny:

This possibility of Musk stepping down as CEO of Tesla has been in focus lately due to the fact that he added even more work to his plate with the acquisition of Twitter.

On top of the Twitter acquisition, Musk’s $54 billion compensation plan for his role as CEO of Tesla is currently on trial after an investor sued the company claiming that it wasn’t necessary to retain Musk at Tesla, and also over concern about Musk’s control over the Tesla board of directors around the time the compensation package was approved.

The blog, which has had close ties to Tesla in the past, identified CFO Zach Kirkhorn and Drew Baglino, SVP Powertrain and Energy Engineering, as two potential successors to the throne at Tesla. 

Recall, just days ago it appeared Musk would be stretched with other projects when he claimed that “bankruptcy [was] not out of the question” for Twitter, just weeks after his $44 billion takeover of the company. 

Twitter, which hasn’t turned a profit since 2019, has seen a “massive drop” in revenue according to Musk, as advertisers step back from spending campaigns.

In the days following that claim, Musk has also said he is searching for a CEO to run Twitter, as well.