(Reuters) - Outgoing Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Chief Executive James Murdoch is the lead candidate to replace Elon Musk as Tesla Inc chairman, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people briefed on the discussions.
Tesla and Musk reached a settlement with U.S. Securities and Exchange regulators last month in which they agreed to pay $20 million each to financial regulators and that the billionaire would step down as chairman but remain as CEO.
Murdoch, who is a non-executive director of Tesla, had signaled he wants the job, the report said.
Murdoch is set to be succeeded by his brother Lachlan Murdoch as Twenty First Century Fox chief executive officer, after the media group completes the sale of bulk of its assets to Walt Disney.
Reuters couldn't reach out to Murdoch for comment. Tesla and Twenty-First Century Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares of Tesla pared losses to trade down 1.6 percent at $258.50.
More From This Section
(Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham and Shailesh Kuber)