The executive board of Tesla made a move to oust Elon Musk as CEO last month as dealerships were targeted by vandals and the brand's stock price took a hit, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. 

The company gave Musk an ultimatum to announce his departure from his work at the White House, and he obliged them, pledging to devote "far more of my time to Tesla."

He still plans to work with DOGE and President Donald Trump for one to two days a week, he said on a first-quarter earnings conference call with shareholders.

The shareholders' main question for Musk was reportedly the following: "Can Elon please provide some reassurance that at some point soon he will be done with DOGE and politics? Many Tesla shareholders wish he would reprioritize the majority of his time and effort to engineering."

Reports denied

The Wall Street Journal announced the search, but it wasn't immediately clear whether they continued the search after Musk's announcement.

Chair Robyn Denholm denied, after the report on Thursday, that a search was taking place.

"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 on X.

"This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published), she continued.

"Highly confident"

"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."

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.

This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published).

The CEO of Tesla is…

— Tesla (@Tesla) May 1, 2025

At its low point, Tesla had lost more than 40% of its market share since January, but it has regained some of that with a positive first-quarter earnings report.

Musk called the Journal report "deliberately false" and said it was an "EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS" to publish the article without also publishing the denial from Denholm and the board.

Denholm and others on the board have also been under fire for cashing in a total of $1.2 billion in Tesla stock since 2020, most of it in the form of exercising options given to them as part of their compensation.

Denholm alone sold a reported $558 million in stock during that time, which begs the question of whether the board has any confidence in the brand at this point.