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As Tesla faces plunging sales, distracted leadership, and investor unrest, Elon Musk’s divided attention raises urgent questions about the future of the world’s most valuable automaker.
As Tesla grapples with plummeting sales, political distractions, and shareholder unrest, calls grow louder for a full-time CEO—but Elon Musk has other plans.
June 2025 — For the world’s most valuable carmaker, 2025 was supposed to be a defining year. Elon Musk himself said so, describing it as “maybe the most important” in Tesla’s history, with ambitious plans to unveil long-awaited robotaxis and humanoid robots. But as Musk’s focus drifts further from Tesla’s core business—toward politics, social media, and artificial intelligence—many investors and analysts are asking the same question: Who’s really driving Tesla?
While Tesla employs 125,000 people globally and leads in electric vehicle production, it finds itself navigating without what every other major company has—a full-time CEO. Instead, it’s led by Musk, a brilliant but increasingly polarizing figure whose attention is split across ventures, including leading social media platform X, founding a third political party, and influencing U.S. policy from within the Trump administration.
“To have one of the biggest companies in the world not have a full-time CEO is unheard of,” said Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki and an early Tesla investor. “The fact is, Tesla is a massive company that needs a lot of attention, and it just isn’t getting it.”
Tesla is in the midst of one of the steepest downturns in its history. It has reported back-to-back quarters with record drops in sales and profits. Contributing factors include brand damage from Musk’s political affiliations, new legislation eliminating regulatory credits, and a reduced $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers under the latest U.S. tax bill.
Since its stock peak last December, Tesla has lost more than a third of its market value.
“This is a tipping point,” said Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities. “The Tesla board needs to act now and set the ground rules for Musk going forward around his political ambitions and actions.”
Ives called for an oversight committee and a structured time commitment from Musk—ideas that were quickly rebuffed by Musk himself, who responded on X with a terse: “Shut up, Dan.”
Investor frustration isn’t confined to analysts. In May, public sector pension fund managers who hold Tesla stock penned a letter to Board Chair Robyn Denholm warning of Musk’s absentee leadership.
“Musk’s outside endeavors appear to have diverted his time and attention from actively managing Tesla’s operations, as any other chief executive officer of a publicly traded company would be expected to do,” the letter stated.
Longtime Tesla supporter Ross Gerber believes the problem is deeper than distraction.
“He doesn’t want to be in the car business anymore,” Gerber said. “He thinks, ‘Let’s just focus on robotaxis and making robots. If I put a big shiny object in front of people, they’ll forget that Tesla has real problems and I don’t have a solution for them.’”
This sentiment is shared by many who see Tesla’s current strategy as a distraction tactic. While Tesla’s robotaxi service had a soft launch in Austin, it lags far behind Alphabet’s Waymo, which is already running 250,000 paid rides weekly across four U.S. cities.
Even loyalists are having second thoughts. Gerber, who has made over $100 million from Tesla stock, has sold almost all his shares and advised clients to do the same.
“With the right leadership, Tesla could achieve everything it set out to do. But Musk isn’t that leader anymore,” Gerber said. “He’s lost touch with reality. And it doesn’t look like anyone at Tesla has the power—or courage—to confront him.”
Despite mounting evidence and pleas from shareholders, few believe the board will act.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Gerber concluded.
As Tesla enters one of the most pivotal moments in its history, its future may rest not in cutting-edge technology or financial performance—but on whether its most powerful asset can once again focus on the company he helped build. Or if, in fact, Elon Musk has already moved on.
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