Tesla Board Opened Search for a CEO to Succeed Elon Musk

About a month ago, with Tesla’s TSLA -0.58%decrease; red down pointing triangle stock sinking and some investors irritated about Elon Musk’s White House focus, Tesla’s board got serious about looking for Musk’s successor.

Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Tesla’s next chief executive, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

Tensions had been mounting at the company. Sales and profits were deteriorating rapidly. Musk was spending much of his time in Washington.