There has been a lot of talk over the past year whether Elon Musk dedicates enough time to Tesla seeing as he’s heading several companies, including SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and social media giant Twitter, which he acquired last year.
Musk has repeatedly reassured Tesla investors that he’s fit to run the EV maker, and the fact he appointed a new Twitter CEO earlier this month will definitely take some of the pressure off.
Then there were rumors regarding Elon Musk’s plans at Tesla, with some speculation claiming that his days as CEO of the EV maker are numbered. Musk put those rumors to rest at Tesla’s Annual Shareholder Event earlier this month.
Still, some Tesla shareholders and analysts are also wondering what will happen to the company should something incapacitate Elon Musk in some way. Well, it turns out he has a succession plan in place and the board is aware of his recommendations to take the top job.
In an interview with Wall Street Journal on May 23 (watch it in full in the video above), Musk talked about his succession plan and what the automaker will do in his absence, especially if it’s something unexpected.
“There are particular individuals that I’ve told the board, ‘Look, if something happens to me unexpectedly, this is my recommendation for taking over.’ The board is aware of who my recommendation is. It’s up to them, of course. They may choose to go a different direction, but in a worst case scenario, this is who should run the company,” Musk said.
While he didn’t name names, several candidates come to mind, including Senior Vice President of Automotive Tom Zhu, who took over the role in April after rumors that he was to replace Elon Musk as the company’s CEO. Zhu knows everything about the Tesla business and would likely be the ideal candidate to take over should something unexpected happen to Elon Musk.
Until Tesla is faced with such a scenario, investors should be relieved to know that a clear-cut name is on the list for the board to consider in case the current CEO is no longer able to head the automaker for some reason.
In the same interview, Elon Musk also provided insight into how he’s able to manage so many companies simultaneously. As it turns out, he’s not superhuman, he just tries to manage his time as efficiently as humanly possible.
Essentially, Musk said he is separating each business’s needs for a single day of the week. For example, on a Monday he may manage Tesla, while a Tuesday may be dedicated to the daily operation of Twitter.
However, pressing issues must be dealt with immediately, so Musk admitted that he may be juggling two or more of this companies on the same day. Tuesday, for example, was a Tesla day, but Musk said he would also dedicate some of his time to Twitter in the evening. “These things somewhat intertwine. Time management is extremely difficult,” he said.
