Tesla CEO Elon Musk says
May 14, 2023
Tesla CEO Elon Musk will not be stepping down as the head of the electric automaker anytime soon. That at least appears to be the case based on recent events and comments made.
Musk has led Tesla to become one of the most disruptive companies in recent memory, and with his guidance, the automaker has surged to become the most valuable globally.
However, his purchase of social media platform Twitter last year definitely brought up some concern among shareholders. Noted frequently as an “overhang” on Tesla shares, Musk’s venture into running Twitter took away from his time as the head of the automaker.
However, Musk always maintained he was not going to be running the day-to-day operations of the platform forever, and earlier this week, it was confirmed that Linda Yaccarino would become the new CEO in about six weeks.
It was a huge relief for many Tesla investors who have long waited for Musk to bring his full attention back to the automaker.
Despite Musk’s hiring of a new CEO for Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that there was speculation that his days running Tesla were numbered and Zachary Kirkhorn, the company’s CFO, was in line to take his place.
While running Tesla has been far from a walk in the park and has contributed to excessive amounts of stress on Musk, it doesn’t appear that his time is anywhere near over.
In fact, Musk said in a recent Tweet that Yaccarino’s hiring as Twitter CEO is actually a move that will allow him to “devote more time to Tesla.”
Obviously, bringing on Linda allows me to devote more time to Tesla, which is exactly what I will be doing!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Investors that have long pushed for Musk to devote more time to the car company and less to Twitter are already celebrating the move and his confirmation that he will remain the head of Tesla.
Musk, who has successfully run both companies since last year, has been hit with criticisms related to Tesla’s falling stock price and the company’s shortcomings, for example, a failure to reach intended goals for production start dates.
However, it has not been all bad. Tesla has managed to drop prices of its EVs considerably in 2023 so far. It has caused a widespread drop in prices across the industry as competitors aim to keep up.
Tesla’s falling stock price could be attributed to a wide variety of factors outside of Musk’s control, including a downturn in tech stocks entirely as the U.S. has leaned toward a recession.