Is It Possible to Replace Elon Musk as CEO of Tesla?

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The discussion centers on the potential impact of Elon Musk's leadership on Tesla, with concerns about his stability and recent erratic behavior, including controversial public appearances and tweets that may affect stock prices. Despite Musk's significant role, the majority of Tesla's ownership lies with institutional investors, suggesting that removal from his position could be possible if the board united against him. There are also discussions about the challenges Tesla faces, including financial losses and difficulties in vehicle repairs for customers, which could influence stock performance and consumer confidence. The future of electric vehicles is debated, with some believing demand exceeds supply, while others view Tesla's market position as precarious. Overall, the conversation reflects uncertainty about Musk's influence and the company's viability in a competitive market.
  • #61
I would love to get stupid high with Elon Musk.
 
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  • #62
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud, according to court documents filed Thursday. Sources close to the company told CNBC the company was also expecting to be sued, though Tesla was not named as a defendant in the complaint.

Shares of the automaker fell roughly 10 percent in extended trading Thursday.

The SEC complaint alleges that Musk issued "false and misleading" statements and failed to properly notify regulators of material company events. The SEC plans to hold a press conference at 5 pm E.T.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/27/tesla-falls-4percent-on-report-elon-musk-sued-by-sec.html
 
  • #63
I note they also want him banned from being a director or officer of any public company if found guilty.
 
  • #64
Tesla is a company and Telsa is expecting to be sued. What's the problem?
 
  • #65
Aww this administration is adorable!
 
  • #66
SEC offers settlement, Musk refuses, SEC goes ahead with fraud charges, TSLA down 14%.
 
  • #67
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/son...-have-a-suicide-pact-to-refuse-secs-deal.html
Tesla and the SEC were close to a no-guilt settlement but Musk pulled out at the last minute, according to reporting by CNBC's https://www.cnbc.com/id/105061837.

Under the deal, Musk and Tesla would have had to pay a nominal fine, and the CEO would not have had to admit any guilt, said CNBC's https://www.cnbc.com/id/105061442, citing sources.

But those sources said Musk would have been barred from being chairman for two years and Tesla would have to appoint two new independent directors.

"It was an unbelievably generous deal," said Sonnenfeld, a senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management.

So good, in fact, that former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden said the agency likely sees Musk's and the board's decisions to turn down the deal "as another reckless act by Tesla."
 
  • #68
Tesla board already has 3 too many directors, adding 2 more would make it the most useless, divergent board in history of corporations.
 
  • #69
cronxeh said:
Tesla board already has 3 too many directors

Really? Why is six the perfect number?

cronxeh said:
dding 2 more would make it the most useless, divergent board in history of corporations.

I'm assuming that's a joke, right?
 
  • #70
When you have that many people on your board, reaching a consensus is a non-trivial matter, which makes it an ineffective board.

An optimal number, just like an optimal number of direct reports to have for a manager, is 5-7.

Currently there are 9 members, adding 2 more would make it a very ineffective board.
 
  • #71
cronxeh said:
Currently there are 9 members, adding 2 more would make it a very ineffective board.

That is different than whagt you said before:

cronxeh said:
dding 2 more would make it the most useless, divergent board in history of corporations.

You do know that the average number of board members in the S&P 500 is 10.8?
 
  • #73
He's not the messiah, he's just a naughty boy.
 
  • #74
Greg Bernhardt said:
Musk out as chairman but stays on as CEO.

That's probably the best outcome he could have hoped for.
 
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  • #75
In the September 28th issue of The Atlantic, Ian Bogost wrote an article, Elon Musk Is His Own Worst Enemy.

It includes this gem:

According to documents described in the complaint, Tesla’s board and investor-relations team knew nothing about the matter before Musk had announced it. (The marijuana joke, however, was apparently real: Musk rounded up a 20 percent price-per-share premium to $420 because his girlfriend, the singer Grimes, “would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price.”)
 
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  • #76
He needs to get his act together, maybe being fired from Tesla would the best thing that could happen to him.
 
  • #78
nsaspook said:
Let it go guy.
Not his style to let things go...
 
  • #79
This was phenomenally stupid. Part of the consent agreement was "no more unvetted tweets" - and a couple of days later, we not only have an unvetted tweet, but one where Musk largely admits that the original motivation was to punish short sellers. Not only is he risking five years in the big house for this, he has a billion-dollar investor lawsuit on his hands where he pretty much said "Yup. That's what I did."
 
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  • #80
Well... This whole story more and more sounds like a rage quit.
 
  • #81
Vanadium 50 said:
This was phenomenally stupid. Part of the consent agreement was "no more unvetted tweets" - and a couple of days later, we not only have an unvetted tweet, but one where Musk largely admits that the original motivation was to punish short sellers. Not only is he risking five years in the big house for this, he has a billion-dollar investor lawsuit on his hands where he pretty much said "Yup. That's what I did."
Where did he say that?

The vetting of tweets has 90 days to be implemented:
The proposed settlement, should it be approved, would require Tesla to "establish a new committee of independent directors and put in place additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk's communications." That oversight would only take effect 90 days after the settlement takes effect.
 
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  • #82
mfb said:
The vetting of tweets has 90 days to be implemented

You got me. That moves it from "phenomenally stupid" to merely "extremely stupid".
 
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  • #83
mfb said:
Where did he say that?
He didn't come right out and say it, he just implied that the SEC was successfully defending short sellers from his attacks.

I'd call this merely an unmodified "stupid" because I think the issue is officially closed...but then Musk is forcing us to re-calibrate our grades of "stupid" with respect to CEO conduct.
 
  • #84
So I have followed Musk's current actions and I have read his biography.
I really like and admire that man. He is a genius, great at engineering and product design. And he is a visionary that aims to build a better future (most important point).
However, he is bad with social stuff and not a good CEO. From an economic perspective, maybe he should step down as Tesla's CEO. On the other hand, without Musk, nobody would know Tesla today. He is still the driving power behind that company (aside from the money of the investors, ofc^^ ).

Still, a man who helps driving the digitalisation (Paypal), who helps revolutionizing the space industry (SpaceX), who improves the world's ecology (Tesla, Solar City), who aims to decrease the cost and time for traveling large distances (Hyperloop), who works on projects that would lead to cities with less traffic and pollution (Boring Company)... a guy who invests his millons of dollars he had just earned via selling his Paypal parts into funding a freaking space company. You got to love that guy!
 
  • #85
SchroedingersLion said:
I really like and admire that man. He is a genius, great at engineering and product design. And he is a visionary that aims to build a better future (most important point).
Besides visionary and scientist, I hate to point out the obvious that he's also a businessman*. In a sense, perhaps, it's good that he got a little landed ... . But, hey, life[business&science] goes on! ...

* despite
 
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  • #86
You guys need to stop calling Musk an engineer or a scientist. He is neither. He is the introverted, slightly autistic version of Bill Nye, with ability to sell the idea to the right people at the right time. Some of the engineering ideas he has like digging tunnels are absolutely ridiculous. I would still rather hang out with him than 99.99999% of people in the world.
 
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  • #87
cronxeh said:
I would still rather hang out with him than 99.99999% of people in the world.

So there are roughly 7000 people you'd rather hang out with than Elon? This might hurt his feelings... o0)
 
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  • #88
  • #89
  • #90
cronxeh said:
Some of the engineering ideas he has like digging tunnels are absolutely ridiculous.
Some of the engineering ideas he has like privately developing an orbital rocket are absolutely ridiculous.
Some of the engineering ideas he has like reusing rockets are absolutely ridiculous.
- many aerospace experts, before SpaceX did it
 
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