The electric car company’s largest shareholder after Musk, Baillie Gifford told a German magazine that the CEO of Tesla should step down from his post.
James Anderson, the top investor who holds a 7.5 percent stake in Tesla, commented that Elon Musk “does not think Elon needs to be CEO” because of his late-night Twitter outbursts that can do the company more harm than good. Mr. Anderson, who knows Musk personally added that: “His micromanagement also includes the desire to speak to the stock market and the world in ways we do not necessarily consider helpful.”
Musk had his agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his controversial Twitter activities in April, agreeing to have more specific oversight on his tweets about the company. According to the agreement, all Tweets of Musk regarding Tesla’s sales, financial health, or delivery numbers is needed to be pre-approved by a company lawyer.
Musk was sued last year by SEC for making fraudulent statements after he tweeted on that he had his “fundings secured” to take Tesla, private at $420 per share. However, in February, the SEC again held Musk in contempt of court for allegedly violating a previous public disclosure settlement.
Despite the criticism, Anderson said that he backed Musk, explaining that Baillie Gifford does “not want to stop Elon from being Elon” as the advantages massively outweigh the disadvantages.
