Musk admits to ‘difficult and painful year’
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.”
Shares of Tesla slumped about 9 percent in trading Friday. airport, and that no one else reviewed it.
Asked if he regretted it, he said, “Why would I?”
Musk, 47, has a reputation for being an eccentric visionary. But his out-of-the-blue go-private announcement raised a huge ruckus and pushed Tesla’s shares up 11 percent in a day, raising the company’s value by $6 billion. They’ve fallen back, including a 4 percent decline in pre-market trading Friday to $323.50.
There are multiple reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the disclosure.
Some of Musk’s stress comes from critical stock short-sellers who are betting against the company’s success. But much of it comes from Musk’s own statements issuing lofty goals for production of cars or turning a sustained profit starting this quarter. Tesla has never made money for a full year and has had only two profitable quarters since it went public in 2010.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that securities regulators have been investigating if Tesla misled investors about Model 3 production problems.
The company could face sanctions if regulators find it did not accurately portray production delays to investors.