Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter - Elon Musk has at least three full-time jobs and says he works around 120 hours a week. But it looks as if the workaholic could prepare his retirement from the top of the e-car pioneer.
Elon Musk has an idea who his successor as Tesla boss could be. At least that's what James Murdoch, who sits on the board of directors of the electric car pioneer, says. The son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch was questioned as a witness in a lawsuit about the billions in bonuses that Tesla paid Musk.
Musk has identified a possible successor in recent months, Murdoch said. However, he did not say who it is. This statement is particularly surprising because Musk has previously emphasized that there is no succession plan. Last summer, during Tesla's annual general meeting, he said he wanted to stay with the company as long as he was of use there.
However, Musk had repeatedly made it clear that he had little interest in the job as Tesla boss. Murdoch's statement could indicate that he is now considering resigning. Not only is he responsible for the operations of the world's highest-rated automaker, but also for space company SpaceX and Twitter, which it bought for $44 billion. The social network is currently in chaos days.
The self-declared workaholic recently admitted that he had too much to do. He's probably been working 120 hours a week since the Twitter takeover. Before that it was about 78 hours. At the court hearing, he said he would spend less time on Twitter in the future. In any case, sooner or later someone else will run the company.
"After the acquisition, there must first be a storm of activity to reorganize the company," Musk said. He's fired half the workforce, ousted advertisers, and is completely rebuilding Twitter. The 51-year-old demands that the remaining Twitter employees commit themselves in writing to "hardcore work" - otherwise they too will be fired.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, Tesla's board of directors has discussed several times in the past whether Musk should be responsible for Tesla's product strategy rather than CEO. "CEO is often seen as a business-focused role," Musk said in the process. "But really, I'm more of an engineer developing technology."
