Tesla insider: Elon Musk's successor already found

A Tesla board member has testified in court that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has picked his replacement as CEO of the world's leading electric carmaker.

James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, made the comments during a trial regarding a Tesla's 2018 pay package.

While any potential successor was not specifically named, the comments come amid concerns from shareholders that Musk is potentially distracted by his many projects, such as Starlink, the Boring Company, SpaceX, and now Twitter – the most recent acquisition sinking in after a long and dramatic takeover bid.

Also troubling investors was Musk's reallocation of engineers from Tesla to Twitter, something which the board was said to be monitoring.

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According to Reuters, following a question from the plaintiff's lawyer on whether Musk had identified any potential successor as CEO, Murdoch replied: "Actually he has," adding that the discussion had happened in "the last few months."

Further testimony from Ira Ehrenpreis, a long time friend of Musk and venture capitalist who chaired Tesla's compensation committee, said that Musk's generous remuneration was to serve as an incentive for the "serial entrepreneur" to stay with Tesla.

"We wanted Elon to be at the head of Tesla for a very long time," Ehrenpreis said, speaking of Musk's US$55 billion pay package.

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Following the purchase of Twitter, Musk has shared that he will reduce his time at the social media giant, likely appointing someone new to the CEO role. The same Reuters report details that there have been conversations at Tesla about finding an "administrative CEO" to take on the challenges of finance and human resources, allowing for Musk to focus on his role as chief product officer.

Musk has not hinted at any timeline for leaving Tesla, having recently told shareholders he planned to stay with the carmaker for "as long as I can be useful."

Despite this assurance, there has been speculation on who could eventually take on the role, with the more prominent names being Drew Baglino, current Senior Vice President of Tesla's Powertrain and Energy Engineering department, or its Autopilot team director, Ashok Elluswamy.