Tesla's board begins searching for a CEO successor, is Musk, who is "tired of making cars," in need of a "Cook"?

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Tesla's board of directors has begun searching for a successor to CEO Elon Musk.

The report cites sources familiar with the matter, stating that dissatisfaction among some investors has been growing since Musk shifted his focus to White House affairs, and internal tensions at Tesla have also been escalating. About a month ago, as Tesla's stock price continued to decline, the board began seriously looking for Musk's successor.

During this time, the board met with Musk and shared updates. Board members made it clear to him that he needs to spend more time on Tesla and needs to make a public statement.

Currently, Tesla's board members have contacted several executive search firms to establish a formal process for finding the next CEO of Tesla.

According to a report citing an attendee, Tesla executive Eliah Gilfenbaum in California told his team that recruiting and retaining talent has become increasingly challenging; if Musk were to resign, Tesla would be better off—after media reported Gilfenbaum's comments, he was forced to leave Tesla.

In last week's earnings call, Musk promised investors that he would allocate more time to Tesla starting next month. The report noted that it is unclear whether Musk is aware of the board's search for a successor or whether his commitment to increase his time at Tesla will affect the succession plan.

Musk promises to refocus on Tesla, but the outlook is uncertain

Since Musk began spending significant time assisting Trump in cutting federal spending, Tesla has been in a state of loss.

Musk's close relationship with Trump has damaged the Tesla brand's image in the eyes of some consumers, and the former's political stance has even become a noticeable burden on the company's business. Reports indicate that Tesla is losing brand appeal in markets such as California and Germany, with some owners even placing stickers on their Teslas to distance themselves from Musk's political stance.

Meanwhile, Tesla's core electric vehicle business is shrinking, and its latest model, the Cybertruck, has not provided much of a boost.

Last week's disappointing earnings report showed that Tesla's quarterly revenue fell by 9%, with automotive revenue declining by 20% after sales dropped in key markets like California, China, and Germany.

After announcing plans to reduce his time in Washington and invest more in Tesla, Musk defended the company's performance and expressed optimism about its future.

"We are not on the brink of death, not even close."

However, for investors, there remains significant uncertainty regarding Tesla's future direction and leadership structure, especially as Musk continues to manage five companies simultaneously, and whether Tesla can regain growth momentum remains to be seen.

Is Tesla in a "2011 Apple moment"?

Musk's obsession with political activities has not only damaged the Tesla brand but also raises a thought-provoking question: Why would the CEO of the world's most valuable car company spend months pursuing political activities at a critical stage in the electric vehicle industry? Analysts believe the answer may be: Musk is tired of making cars.

Over the past decade, he has worked tirelessly to pull Tesla back from the brink of bankruptcy and transform it into a leading electric vehicle company. Now, electric vehicle manufacturing has become a "solved problem"—Tesla has multiple Gigafactories worldwide, producing hundreds of thousands of cars each year. The next phase is all about refining these processes, scaling efficient production, and convincing people to buy the products.

According to The Information, this is not where Musk's interests lie. He enjoys inventing new things rather than improving existing products.

A knowledgeable source stated:

"I think Musk has no interest in making cars like the Volkswagen Golf. That wouldn't motivate him to get out of bed in the morning. His attitude is 'let others do it.'"

This analyst indicated that if Musk steps down as CEO, Tesla will need a Tim Cook-like executive to take over.

Cook is a supply chain genius who took over Apple after Jobs passed away in 2011. At that time, many experts predicted that Apple would decline. Investors could not imagine how Apple could continue to thrive without Jobs as the creative driving force.

From one perspective, their concerns were valid. Since then, Apple has indeed not launched many truly innovative products. The Apple Car project failed, and the Vision Pro glasses faced challenges (following Meta's Oculus).

But from another perspective, Cook has taken Apple to unimaginable new heights over the past 14 years. His approach has been to continuously refine another solved problem—the smartphone.

Since 2011, Cook has focused on minor improvements to the iPhone product, redesigning internal chips, and negotiating hard with hundreds of suppliers to develop one of the largest supply chains in the world. At the end of that year, Apple's market value was about $350 billion. Now, Apple's valuation has reached $3.2 trillion.

Through continuous iteration of existing products—reducing costs and increasing efficiency—this CEO has created nearly $3 trillion in value for shareholders, making Apple the most valuable company in the world.

When Apple became the first company to surpass a $1 trillion market value in 2018, Tony Fadell, who helped create the iPod, stated:

"Tim and the team have achieved operational and environmental excellence in every aspect of the business while continuing to advance Jobs' vision, maintaining unprecedented profit margins in the consumer electronics industry at an unprecedented scale."