Tesla tumbles after tearful Musk admits he’s stressed
Shares of electric carmaker Tesla Inc. fell about nine per cent Friday after CEO Elon Musk conceded that job stress may be getting the best of him.
Tesla closed at $305.50, its lowest level since Aug. 1, as analysts questioned whether the company’s board should grant Musk a leave or even replace him with a more seasoned CEO. The decline lopped $5.4 billion off Tesla’s market value.
Musk admitted to The New York Times that the past year has been the most “difficult and painful” of his career. The newspaper reported that during an hour-long telephone interview on Thursday, Musk alternated between laughter and tears, acknowledging that he was working up to 120 hours a week and sometimes takes Ambien to get to sleep.
“If you have anyone who can do a better job, please let me know. They can have the job. Is there someone who can do the job better? They can have the reins right now,” Musk told the paper.
Tesla’s board showed no sign of taking any action Friday.
Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business and law professor, said Tesla’s board has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to take action.
“If the board does not get him out of this slot at a minimum on a leave of absence basis, I think the board is going to be seen by a lot of people who love the company as being derelict in their duties,” Gordon said Friday. “You can love the company, you can love Musk and hate having him be the CEO at this point.”
The board has stood behind Musk despite some bizarre behaviour. For instance, in a recent tweet he labelled a diver who aided in the cave rescue of Thai soccer players as a pedophile. He later apologized.
But a tweet Musk fired off last week has reportedly made him and the directors the targets of securities regulators, and may force the board to act. Musk tweeted that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. The announcement raised a huge ruckus and boosted Tesla’s shares 11 per cent in a day.