Dive Brief:

• Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of common stock in the electric vehicle maker with an aggregate value of approximately $1.1 million — marking his fourth sale of company shares in as many months, according to a Thursday securities filing.
• The finance chief, whose total compensation exceeded $139 million in 2024, largely comprised of an equity award of both stock options and restricted stock units, has sold approximately $6.5 million in Tesla stock this year including his most recent sale. The sales are part of a trading plan adopted by Taneja, who took the company’s top financial seat in August 2023, in May 2024, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  
• Taneja is one of several executives at the Austin, Texas-based company who have made numerous sales of stock in the first few months of 2025. Board Chair Robyn Denholm on Tuesday sold shares with an aggregate market value of approximately $32.1 million, according to an SEC filing — following a March sale of approximately $33 million in shares and a February sale worth $43 million, CFO Dive previously reported. Denholm is one of several Tesla executives that owe a collective $919 million in excessive compensation to the company. She has sold approximately $558 million worth of Tesla stock since 2020, according to Bloomberg data.

Dive Insight:

The sales come as Tesla continues to face increasing pressures, logging slumping profits amid a consumer backlash against CEO Elon Musk’s political activities — which reportedly prompted the EV maker’s board to begin a search process for Musk’s successor as its top executive, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Tesla denied the WSJ’s Wednesday report in a post on Musk-owned social media platform X attributed to Denholm, saying the report was “completely false” and that the board “is highly confident in [Musk’s] ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

“It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!” Musk wrote in his own X post Thursday, utilizing a posting style favored by President Donald Trump.

In another X post, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives noted the board “did a warning shot,” but dismissed concerns that Musk would be ousted from the EV maker.

“While this was a very tense situation, we believe Musk clearly did the right thing and we believe Musk will remain CEO for at least five years at Tesla and we would be surprised if the board was still heading down this path,” Ives wrote.

The board’s reported “warning shot” came as Tesla has continued to face brand hostility linked to Musk’s political actions related to the Department of Government Efficiency, including vandalism and arson on Tesla showrooms. The EV maker has also faced uncertainty regarding the impact of potential tariffs to be levied on the automotive industry by the Trump administration, Taneja said during the company’s most recent earnings call.

Among these headwinds, Tesla’s stock price has continued to whipsaw — falling more than 25% year to date. Tesla’s stock price has continued to wobble in recent weeks after the EV maker posted disappointing earnings on April 23, reporting a 71% year-over-year drop in net income for Q1 2025.