Elon Musk says Tesla will 'retire' the board chairman title in 3 years

Francois Mori / Associated Press

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

• Tesla's board of directors may not have a chairman in three years, CEO Elon Musk suggested on Tuesday via Twitter.
• "'Chairman' is an honorific, not executive role, which means it's not needed to run Tesla. Will retire that title at Tesla in 3 years," Musk said.
• Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla's board of directors may not have a chairman in three years, CEO Elon Musk suggested on Tuesday via Twitter.

"'Chairman' is an honorific, not executive role, which means it's not needed to run Tesla. Will retire that title at Tesla in 3 years," Musk said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: 10 things you need to know about the woman replacing Elon Musk as the chair of Tesla

Musk was the chairman of Tesla's board of directors from 2004 until this year, when a series of tweets in August about potentially taking the automaker private led to a lawsuit and settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that required Musk to step down as Tesla's board chairman for three years and pay a $20 million fine.

Musk said in August that he had "funding secured" to convert Tesla into a private company at $420 per share and only needed a shareholder vote to confirm a go-private deal. But in its lawsuit, the SEC alleged that Musk had not acquired the necessary funding or even discussed the terms he mentioned with any potential backers.

Tesla named Robyn Denholm, the former CFO at the Australian telecommunications company Telestra, as its new board chairman in November. Denholm joined Tesla's board of directors in 2014.

During an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired in December, Musk said he did not believe he will want to return to being Tesla's board chairman once he is allowed to do so.

"No ... I actually just prefer to have no titles at all," Musk said.

• Read more about Elon Musk and Tesla:
• Elon Musk on missing Model 3 production deadlines: 'I've never made a mass-produced car. How am I supposed to know with precision when it's going to get done?'
• Elon Musk broke one of Tesla's biggest Autopilot rules in a TV interview
• Elon Musk: 'I want to be clear - I do not respect the SEC'
• Elon Musk says he's 'somewhat impulsive' and that he doesn't want to adhere to a 'CEO template'

Get the latest Tesla stock price here.