Elon Musk Returns to His Main Role, Dismissing Close Associates

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

The Wall Street Journal evaluates that CEO Elon Musk has recently initiated a major personnel shake-up at Tesla and X by replacing key senior executives.
Similar to the Model 3 production crisis in 2018, foreign media report that CEO Musk is trying to overcome corporate challenges by reshuffling leadership.
Tesla supporters have pointed out that Musk’s political actions are impacting the company, urging him to refrain from political involvement.

Musk Steps Back from Politics

Dismissals: X CEO, Optimus Lead, and Others

Over 50 Executives Resigned During the 2018 Crisis

As Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stepped back from politics and returned to corporate management, there is analysis suggesting he is undertaking a sweeping personnel overhaul.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 13th (local time) that the recent string of resignations among senior executives at Tesla and X indicates that "the boss has returned."

Starting with Milan Kovac, the engineering lead for Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus, on the 6th of last month, Musk’s close associate Omead Afshar, who oversaw North American and European operations, also left Tesla. On the 9th, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO Musk brought in after acquiring X in 2023, resigned as well.

Foreign media compared this to 2018, when CEO Musk restructured leadership by letting go of more than 50 vice president-level executives. At that time, faced with the production bottleneck of the electric vehicle Model 3 and frequent Autopilot accidents, CEO Musk responded head-on, declaring a “thorough organizational shake-up.”

Voices inside and outside Tesla that criticize CEO Musk’s political involvement are also thought to have influenced this trend. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush and a known Tesla supporter, recently criticized CEO Musk’s announcement to form a 'third party,' stating, “He needs to stop political gambling.”

Silicon Valley correspondent = Inyeop Kim inside@hankyung.com