Elon Musk Tweets (in Jest?) That He Would possibly Give up His Jobs

Earlier this yr Mr. Musk informed analysts he anticipated to be CEO of Tesla for a number of years.

Mr. Musk in an interview at The Wall Avenue Journal’s CEO Council summit this week stated “I do crack numerous jokes. They don’t all land, however I’m aspirationally humorous.” Mr. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark about whether or not he was critical about doubtlessly giving up his positions operating Tesla or Area Exploration Applied sciences Corp., as SpaceX is formally recognized.

Later, Mr. Musk tweeted crying-with-laughter emojis in response to somebody tweeting a narrative about his assertion.

Tesla shares have been down greater than 1% in early Friday buying and selling.

On the WSJ occasion, Mr. Musk made enjoyable of the CEO title, saying it was made up. Mr. Musk has beforehand signaled that he doesn’t view formal company titles as set in stone. Tesla stated earlier this yr that Mr. Musk was including “Technoking of Tesla” to his title.

Mr. Musk has a status for making eyebrow-raising statements on Twitter, the place he has greater than 65 million followers. Final month, he initiated a ballot on the microblogging web site, asking folks whether or not he ought to promote 10% of his Tesla holdings, which voters backed. About two months earlier, Mr. Musk initiated a plan beneath which he has exercised a few of his practically 23 million vested inventory choices which can be attributable to expire subsequent yr and offered a few of his shares to cowl tax withholding obligations. Mr. Musk on Thursday reported exercising greater than 2.1 million inventory choices and promoting round $963 million price of inventory to cowl tax withholdings, based on regulatory filings.

Final month, the Tesla boss raised doubt a few deal between the automotive maker and

Hertz International Holdings Inc.

when he tweeted that no contract had been signed in reference to the car-rental firm’s announcement of a 100,000-car order. Final yr, he tweeted that he thought Tesla’s inventory was too excessive, sending shares decrease.

Mr. Musk’s Twitter pronouncements at occasions have been a supply of controversy. In 2018, he tweeted he would possibly take Tesla personal and had “funding secured” for the deal, spurring the Securities and Trade Fee to sue him for fraud. Mr. Musk agreed to pay a $20 million effective—Tesla additionally paid $20 million—and relinquish his chairman title.

Write to Rebecca Elliott at rebecca.elliott@wsj.com