With Tesla’s stock sinking and some investors irritated at Elon Musk’s focus on White House since Donald Trump became the US president, board members of Tesla reached out to several executive search firms about a month ago to look for CEO Musk’s successor, Wall Street Journal has reported.

The WSJ report added that the current status of the board’s push, which was ignited due to Elon Musk’s heavy involvement in White House affairs, could not be determined.

Echoing the board’s sentiments, billionaire Elon Musk last month had said that he would cut short his time in Washington and spend more of it running Tesla after the electric car company faced heavy backlash at the US stock market over growing protests across America due to Trump’s controversial decisions in federal administration.

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President Trump appointed Musk to lead Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the tech entrepreneur’s efforts to cut federal jobs and slash funding of organizations have been one of the most controversial aspects of the Trump presidency, and since Musk remained away from Tesla and more in the White House affairs, the sales of EV lineup declined considerably.

Musk’s support for far-right politics in Europe has also backfired as Tesla faced massive protests and vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations in US and Europe. The WSJ reports added that Musk was asked by Tesla board members to publicly acknowledge that he would spend more time at the company.

However, it was reportedly not known if Musk, who himself is a member of the board, was aware of the succession planning taking place in Tesla while he was caught up with President Trump’s administration.

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