Tesla board members last month reached out to several executive search firms to look for a successor for CEO Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

With profits and the stock price sinking, board members told Musk he needed to spend more time at the company.

As if you've missed the very public life of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the latest glimpse into the world according to Elon came from this week's Tesla investor call. The future, per Elon, is dependent on autonomous cars, built by robots, driving themselves from the plant to the customer. And it is all almost ready, Musk told investors.