Elon Musk was interviewed at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday.
The Tesla CEO said he was more concerned about his level of control than a huge payday.
Musk said he “can’t be sitting there and wondering if I’m going to be tossed out.”
Elon Musk has said he will still be CEO of Tesla in five years’ time —unless he dies.
In a video interview at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday, the billionaire said he was committed to leading Tesla until at least the end of the decade, and would only stop “if I’m dead.”
His comments come as doubts have emerged about Musk’s future at the EV giant, which has become a target for protests and vandalism over Musk’s work cutting the federal workforce with DOGE.
Earlier this month, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm denied that the automaker’s board had begun scouting for a new CEO following a Wall Street Journal report that board members had contacted recruitment firms.
In a combative interview with Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain in Qatar, Musk said he was confident the ongoing legal dispute over his huge pay package in Delaware would not affect his future compensation.
He said he was more concerned about his level of control over Tesla than a multi-billion-dollar payday: “It’s not a money thing. It’s a reasonable control thing over the future of the company, especially if we’re building millions, potentially billions, of humanoid robots,” Musk said.
“I can’t be sitting there and wondering if I’m going to be tossed out,” Musk added.
Musk also faced questions over Tesla’s rocky start to the year, with the automaker reporting underwhelming first-quarter deliveries last month as it battles plunging sales, particularly in Europe.
The Tesla CEO denied the company was experiencing lacklustre sales, saying Tesla was “already turned around” and pointing to the share price revival over the past month.
“Europe is our weakest market. We’re strong everywhere else. Sales are doing well at this point, we don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall and obviously the stock market recognizes that, since we’re now back over a trillion dollars in market cap,” he said.
Tesla’s European sales fell 37% in the first three months of 2025 compared to last year, according to European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association data, even as overall EV sales increased.
Tesla stock rose 0.8% in morning trading in New York.
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