Elon Musk recently said that he plans to be Tesla CEO in the next five years. Musk made a virtual appearance on the Qatar Economic Forum recently where he was asked “Do you see yourself and are you committed to still being the chief executive of Tesla in five years time?”. The tech billionaire replied with an affirmative yes, adding “I’ll still be CEO in 5 years… unless I die. I can’t be the CEO if I’m dead.”A clip from the interview was shared by X user Mario Nawfal on December 30, 2025. Since then the post has gained more than 222K views so far. Nawfal captioned the post:“No planned exit or corporate double-speak, just pure, unfiltered commitment with a side of existential humor. Basically, Elon isn’t going anywhere. He’s still knee-deep in AI, robots, Gigafactories, self-driving tech, and yes spaceships and rockets.”He further added “And let’s be real: no one else could juggle Twitter, Mars, AI doomsday warnings, and an EV empire like this guy. So buckle up, because apparently the only thing that could dethrone Elon… is mortality itself.”
When investors called for Elon Musk’s exit as Tesla CEO
Earlier this year, some Tesla investors including Ross Gerber, the CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management called for Elon Musk’s exit from the company. In an interview with Sky’s Business Live in March this year, Gerber said: “I think Tesla needs a new CEO and I decided today I was going to start saying it and so this is the first show that I’m saying it on”, adding “It’s time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long. There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing but find a suitable CEO of Tesla.”Gerber’s statement then came as shares of Tesla dropped in the wake of massive protests against Elon Musk and the EV maker, allegedly linked to his involvement with the Trump administration then.
