'I Work Till 2:00 AM,' Elon Musk Reveals How He Splits Time Between Tesla, SpaceX & Twitter

Elon Musk is currently the CEO of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX. But soon he will be relieved of one of these duties as he had named NBC Universal's Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO earlier this month. With the new Twitter CEO's arrival in the next few weeks, Elon Musk will take over the role of the CTO and also concentrate more on Tesla.

However, Twitter is primarily a technology company, so his job as CTO is likely to be no less demanding.

Also, until Linda joins, Musk is still the CEO of all three of these companies, which he said has made his days very "long and complicated."

"My Days Are Long & Complicated"

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The world's richest person talked about trying to manage his schedule in an interview recently at The Wall Street Journal¡¯s CEO Council Summit. ¡°My days are very long and complicated as you might imagine,¡± Musk said. ¡°And there¡¯s a great deal of context switching,¡± he said, emphasising that ¡°switching context is quite painful¡±.

Musk, as per a CNBC report, said he generally tries to divide his schedule ¡°so it¡¯s predominantly one company on one day.¡±

But that¡¯s not always possible. This Tuesday was ¡°a Tesla day,¡± he said, but he ¡°might end up at Twitter late tonight, and then tomorrow would be partly a Tesla day as well, half Twitter and then Thursday would be sort of a half-SpaceX, half-Tesla day.¡±

He described his jobs as ¡°somewhat intertwined,¡± and said, ¡°the time management is extremely difficult.¡±

Also Read: List Of Companies Co-Founded/Headed By Elon Musk

Complexity Not Good For His Investments & Net worth

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The whole situation hasn¡¯t been good for both his investments and net worth. Elon Musk had become the world's first person to lose $200 billion of net worth late last year after a $44 billion Twitter acquisition and due to Tesla shares bloodbath. Tesla shares had lost more than half their value in the two months after the Twitter deal closed last year, on concern that Musk would have less time to focus on the electric car maker even as the market was getting more competitive. Meanwhile, advertisers fled or temporarily suspended their campaigns on Twitter, and in March Musk marked down the value of the company to $20 billion. Musk said recently that many advertisers are coming back.

While other executives may outsource their calendar to a chief of staff or executive assistant, Musk said he does most of his scheduling on his own. He said he has ¡°one part-time assistant¡± to help him manage his work schedule, a fact that was reportedly corroborated by a former Tesla employee.

¡°It¡¯s impossible for someone else to know what the priorities are,¡± Musk said, as per the report, adding that he is usually working most hours of the day, wrapping up at 2 a.m., his typical bedtime.

Also Read: 'Don't Want To Be The CEO Of Any Company: Elon Musk

"Succession Is One Of The Roughest Problems"

Thorold Barker, The Wall Street Journal¡¯s editor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, asked Musk if he has a succession plan in place at his businesses. ¡°Succession is one of the toughest, age-old problems,¡± Musk said. ¡°It¡¯s plagued countries, kings, prime ministers and presidents, and CEOs since the dawn of history.¡±

Musk said he¡¯s told his boards, ¡°in all cases,¡± who is his choice to take over in a ¡°worst-case scenario.¡± He emphasized the companies¡¯ boards could also go in another direction as far as who should step into his shoes.

At Tesla, there¡¯s been speculation that finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn is among candidates who Musk would endorse as a successor. Jared Birchall, who is seen as Elon Musk's ¡®right-hand man¡¯, too can be seen in line. At Tesla, Tom Zhu, who was promoted from the role of Tesla's China boss to the company's new number 2 (after CEO Elon Musk) a few months ago, is also being seen as a potential successor.

Tesla board member James Murdoch said last November that the company had recently identified a potential successor to Musk without naming the person. Now, it remains to be who will go on to become Musk's successor at Tesla, when and if that happens.

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