Tesla adds directors

ELECTRIC car and battery maker Tesla has named two new directors, heading off criticism from investors.

21st Century Fox chief executive James Murdoch and Chicago-based Johnson Publishing executive chairman Linda Johnson Rice are joining the now nine-member board.

Mr Murdoch, who is on the board of Bulletin publisher News Corp, has held other leadership roles at Fox and started a foundation that supports environmental sustainability.

Tesla this month agreed to a deal with the South Australian government to build what is being described as the world’s biggest lithium ion battery site.

Some pension funds in the US state of Connecticut have said Tesla directors are too closely linked, noting they include the brother of chief and founder Elon Musk.