Tesla Board Began Search for a CEO to Succeed Elon Musk
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This episode is brought to you by CLA. Here is your morning brief for Thursday, May 1st. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal.

We are exclusively reporting that Tesla's board began looking for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk about a month ago. The company had been contending with deteriorating sales and profits, and Musk spending much of his time in Washington. Around that time, board members told Musk he needed to spend more time on Tesla, and he needed to say so publicly, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Last week, after the company said its first quarter profit had plunged 71%, Musk told investors he would soon pivot back to his job at Tesla. The current status of the succession planning couldn't be determined. It's also unclear if Musk was aware of the effort, or if his pledge to spend more time at Tesla has affected succession planning. Musk didn't respond to requests for comment for the story.

A federal judge has slammed Apple for willfully violating her order to make it easier for app developers to sell digital products like games and subscriptions. In 2021, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers ordered Apple to let developers send customers to their own websites in order to avoid a 30% commission for in-app purchases. And in response, Apple required developers who use an alternative payment method to pay a different 27% fee.

However, Rogers ruled yesterday that fee amounted to anti-competitive conduct and referred the matter to federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation. While Apple said it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal, it is complying with the order.

And negotiators have struck a deal granting the U.S. access to Ukraine's minerals. Central to the agreement is a reconstruction fund that both the U.S. and Ukraine will oversee and which allies can also invest in. Crucially, Kyiv will retain control over its minerals, using new licenses to pay into the fund, and will not have to repay military aid provided by the U.S. during the war.

While many markets in Europe and Asia are shut today, the stocks 600 and FTSE are fairly flat in midday trading, while U.S. stock futures are higher, ahead of a slew of earnings from the likes of Eli Lilly, McDonald's, CVS Health, Moderna, and Airbnb today.

And we have got a lot more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's Once News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. ADP imagines a world of work where smart machines become too smart. Copier, I need 15 copies of this. Printing. By the way, irregardless, not a word, Janet. Yeah, I know.

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