Elon Musk wanted to hire Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg to be Tesla COO

Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of
Facebook.
Getty

• Elon Musk once tried to
  poach Sheryl Sandberg to be his Telsa deputy and chief
  operating officer, he told The New York Times in a new
  interview.
• The carmaker approached Sandberg two
  years ago, but the Facebook COO
  presumably declined.
• Tesla wants to lighten Musk’s workload, and sources
  told the Times that the hunt for a number two has intensified
  as Musk’s behavior has become increasingly erratic in
  2018.

Elon Musk revealed that Tesla once tried to poach Facebook COO
Sheryl Sandberg to be his deputy.

Musk made the claim in a brutally honest New York Times
interview, in which he opened up about the 120-hour weeks he
puts in at Tesla, which are taking a toll on his mental and
physical well-being.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Times said Tesla has
been on the hunt for a number two for Musk for years. The hope is
that the right candidate could hoover up some of his day-to-day
responsibilities running the firm.

Musk said the carmaker approached Sandberg two years ago for the
Tesla COO position. The Times article does not elaborate on this,
but given Sandberg is still at Facebook, it’s safe to say she
ended up declining the offer.

Musk did say, however, that “to the best of my knowledge,” there
is no “active search” for a deputy. The Times’ sources appeared
to contradict this, saying that the search has intensified as
Musk’s behavior has become increasingly erratic in 2018.

After Musk, the next most senior managers at Tesla are Chief
Technical Officer JB Straubel, and Deepak Ahuja, the company’s
chief financial officer.

Attracting a candidate of Sandberg’s caliber will not come cheap.
An analysis by Axios last
month showed that Sandberg is among Silicon Valley’s elite
when it comes to earnings, taking home more than $100 million in
compensation last year.

Musk said he has found 2018 “excruciating.” He told the Times
that he has been working 120-hour weeks recently as Tesla races
to meet its production targets. Musk added that he has not taken
a vacation of more than a week since being confined to his bed
with malaria in 2001.

Read all of Business Insider’s
coverage of Elon Musk’s New York Times interview here.

Get the latest Tesla stock price here.