The board also reportedly met with Musk and requested more of his time at the company, which he did not oppose.

Tesla, Inc. was the cynosure of all eyes on Stocktwits late Wednesday, as retail investor chatter surrounding the stock soared following a media report hinting at a possible leadership change at the electric vehicle giant.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla's board started searching for a new CEO a month ago amid rising investor irritation with Musk spending too much time in Washington, D.C., as a special advisor to President Donald Trump.

The report, which cited people familiar with the discussions, mentioned Tesla board members had contacted multiple executive search firms to initiate a formal CEO succession process as internal tensions mounted amid sliding sales and profits.

The board also reportedly met with Musk, who has led Tesla for over two decades, and requested more of his time at the company, which he did not oppose.

Following the report, which several media outlets picked up, message volume surrounding Tesla surged on Stocktwits, where the stock has over a million followers, making it the top trending symbol late Wednesday.

A bearish user posted: "New CEO or not, lose/lose. Sales will still fall."

However, a bullish watcher wrote, "Replacing Elon is the dumbest sh** Tesla could ever do."

Several others expected Musk to refute the news on X, as he usually does, and pointed to past instances of his calling out the Journal for running "hit pieces on me."

Videos from Wednesday showed Trump thanking Musk at a cabinet meeting for spearheading efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and saying the billionaire entrepreneur is "invited to stay as long as you want."

Some retail investors also noticed a Reuters report that Tesla's head of battery architecture is leaving the company after 17 years.

Tesla's stock, which surged to all-time highs following Trump's election win in November, erased all those gains in months as the company missed on quarterly earnings and deliveries, prompting several analysts to question weak fundamentals and valuation.

Even Tesla's most bullish backers on Wall Street turned nervous about Musk's "self-inflicted" backlash over his political entanglements.

During a post-earnings conference call last week, Musk managed to cheer investors worried about Tesla's poor financial print by saying he would spend more time at his company starting in May.

He also reaffirmed that the company was on track to unveil a cheaper Tesla model in the first half of 2025 and launch its Robotaxi in Texas in June — two catalysts widely expected to make or break the company.

Neither Tesla nor Musk have yet responded to the Journal's latest report.

Past Stocktwits polls have shown that retail investors overwhelmingly prefer Musk returning to take the wheel at Tesla than spend time at DOGE.

Shares of the company have lost over a quarter of their value this year, making Tesla among the worst S&P 500 performers of 2025.

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