Tesla Needs a Full-Time CEO

We all know this hasn’t been Apple’s year, between the so-so reaction to its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, the cancellation of its car project, an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. government, worries about its lagging status in artificial intelligence and, of course, the reality that iPhone sales are no longer growing. Apple stock is down around 10% for the year. But hey, at least Apple CEO Tim Cook gives the job his full attention.

The same cannot be said for Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He is, we are supposed to believe, a superhuman CEO who can simultaneously run the electric vehicle maker even as he also serves as CEO of SpaceX and chair and chief technical officer of X Corp., all while building AI startup xAI on the side. He also posts on X—a lot. Today, for instance, he opined variously on a PBS television series, a Brazilian political drama involving X, the state of play at NPR, how to fix back pain, issues related to X’s advertising business and the birth rate in Greece. Lately, though, it seems his juggling act is beginning to fall apart—if only because of the challenges facing Tesla.