Elon Musk pledges to run Tesla for next 5 years, temporarily withdraws from politics

Billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla. (Photo: Getty Images).

In an interview on May 20 at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum, Elon Musk was asked if he was committed to leading Tesla for the next five years, and the billionaire answered “yes.”

When the host asked him if he had any concerns about that plan, Musk said: “Oh, I could die.”

Musk has spent a significant amount of time this year leading the White House’s Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), causing investors to worry that he is not spending enough time on Tesla.

The electric carmaker’s sales also fell 13% in the first three months of this year, marking the sharpest decline in deliveries in the company’s history, CNN reported.

However, “the most important things in the long term are self-driving technology and Optimus,” the humanoid robot Tesla is developing, Musk said in a later interview with CNBC.

“Those things are going to absolutely dominate Tesla’s future financial success,” the billionaire stressed.

Musk said he is confident that robotaxis will be commonplace within five years. But he has set ambitious timelines for robotaxis and self-driving cars in the past, but has failed to meet his self-proclaimed goals.

“Obviously my predictions in the past were way too optimistic,” Musk said at an event last year.

Musk’s recommitment to Tesla comes weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that the electric carmaker had taken steps to launch a formal process to find a new CEO.

Musk denied the report. “It is an extremely serious ethical breach for the WSJ to publish a deliberately misleading article without first providing a clear denial from Tesla’s board of directors!” he posted on the X platform not long ago.

Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm also confirmed that the article was “completely false”.

In April, Musk stressed to investors that he would step down from his DOGE executive role that month to spend more time leading Tesla.

Tesla’s stock price had plunged 45% this year, but has recently recovered and is now down just 10%. At the close of trading on May 20, Tesla shares edged up 0.5%.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Musk also said that he would spend “a lot less” on politics in the future. “I think I’ve done enough,” the billionaire said.

Asked if the decision was due to the backlash he was receiving, Musk demurred. “If I see a reason to spend money on politics in the future, I will. Right now, I don’t see a reason,” he said.