For a while, it looked like Elon Musk’s political side hustle might cost him his day job.
But according to Dan Ives of Wedbush, one of Wall Street’s most influential Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) bulls, the boardroom drama has cooled, and Musk is now back in the driver’s seat.
Ives believes the Tesla CEO is here to stay for at least the next five years.
That’s a strong rebuttal to Wall Street Journal reports suggesting Tesla’s board had started looking for a replacement earlier this year, frustrated by Musk’s time spent leading Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE for short.
Tensions reached boiling point, Ives says, with board members reportedly demanding Musk publicly recommit to Tesla.
He did exactly that on last week’s earnings call, saying he would now step back from DOGE and focus on running Tesla full-time.
According to Ives, it was a “warning shot” that worked.
“We believe Musk clearly did the right thing,” he wrote, adding that the board’s threat to replace him now looks like a “high-stakes poker game” that ended with Musk folding his political hand.
Ives noted a shift in tone during the call, describing Musk as unusually dialled in, and possibly steered by behind-the-scenes board pressure.
The analyst says the situation is now in the “rearview,” and sees no evidence that the board is still pursuing a CEO search.
Wedbush maintains its 'outperform' rating on Tesla, with a $350 price target. The shares are currently changing hands for around $284.