Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk recently found a successor to take over as CEO at the social media platform, but the succession plan at Tesla, a publicly listed company worth nearly $590 billion, is one that concerns shareholders. “Succession is one of the toughest age-old problems. It’s plagued countries, kings and CEOs since the dawn of history,” Musk mused while chatting to the Wall Street Journal this week.
Musk has yet to publicly indicate a successor at the electric car maker and has no intention to step down any time soon. Nonetheless, Tesla board member James Murdoch (yes, of the News Corp Murdochs, one of the families that inspired Succession) testified last year there is a succession plan in place, and Musk confirmed as much: “The board is aware of who my recommendation is. It’s up to them. They may choose to go different direction.”
One thing Musk knows for sure, he wouldn’t go down the Roys’ “keep it in the family” scenario. “I’m definitely not of the school of automatically giving my kids some share of the companies, even if they have no interest or inclination or ability to manage the companies. I think that’s a mistake,” he said.