'Deliberately False': Musk Slams WSJ Report Claiming Tesla Looking to Replace Him

Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm denied a Wall Street Journal report claiming the board had begun searching for Elon Musk's successor, calling the story "absolutely false." Musk echoed the rebuke, slamming the story as an "EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS" by the legacy media outlet.

"Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company," Denholm wrote in a statement published on X via Tesla.

She emphasized, "This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published)," adding, "The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead."

Musk chimed in, calling the WSJ story by Emily Glazer, Becky Peterson, and Dana Mattioli "an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors."

WSJ's Glazer and others cited anonymous sources to indicate that slumping vehicle sales and DOGE-related backlash had damaged the brand, prompting the board to search for a new CEO.

Here's an excerpt:

Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Tesla's next chief executive, according to people familiar with the discussions.

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The board narrowed its focus to a major search firm, according to the people familiar with the discussions. The current status of the succession planning couldn't be determined. It is also unclear if Musk, himself a Tesla board member, was aware of the effort, or if his pledge to spend more time at Tesla has affected succession planning. Musk didn't respond to requests for comment.

Why WSJ's Glazer and her co-authors chose to publish the story—despite receiving a denial from Tesla's board before publication—underscores how legacy media spreads misinformation and disinformation.

This is the landscape Musk—and top officials in the Trump administration—are navigating: a hostile leftist corporate media environment that pushes endless streams of misinformation and disinformation.

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