Tesla Inc. shares fell nearly nine per cent on Friday — their largest hit in two years — before recovering slightly after a top executive resigned just a month after starting the job and yet another social media storm circled around billionaire CEO Elon Musk.
The company, hurt in the past month by Musk’s high-profile U-turn on a deal to take it private, said chief accounting officer Dave Morton had resigned, citing discomfort with the level of public attention and pace of work.
That followed a Twitter storm overnight about Musk smoking marijuana and drinking whisky in a 2½-hour live web show with comedian Joe Rogan.
[embedded content]
Bloomberg also reported Tesla’s chief people officer, Gaby Toledano, was to leave the company just over a year after joining.
Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
Musk leadership questioned
Several Wall Street analysts renewed calls for the company to appoint another senior leader, either to replace Musk as chief executive or provide more support as the company strives to expand production and potentially raise more capital.
“We have been calling for a co-CEO or COO to assist to codifying the leadership structure and in so doing, the culture at Tesla,” said James Albertine, an analyst at brokerage Consumer Edge.
“Many people ask if Elon is still the best CEO for Tesla. Maybe he is the best chief marketing officer and Tesla needs a strong new CEO,” analyst Frank Schwope at NORD/LB said.
“There are so many rumours and problems about Tesla that we stay skeptical concerning the Tesla shares.”
The company’s shares, down just one per cent after Musk’s appearance on the Rogan podcast, fell another seven points in the 30 minutes after Morton’s resignation. They recovered slightly over the following hour.
Musk’s behaviour has raised concerns about his leadership and several analysts have called for the company to appoint a strong No. 2 to prop up Tesla’s operations. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)
“I want to be clear that I believe strongly in Tesla, its mission, and its future prospects, and I have no disagreements with Tesla’s leadership or its financial reporting,” the company quoted Morton as saying in a filing.
The 47-year-old billionaire spent 2½ hours on a podcast late Thursday discussing everything from artificial intelligence and its impact on humankind to flame throwers and social media.
Taking a puff from a joint — which Rogan said was a blend of tobacco and marijuana and legal in California — Musk said he “almost never” smoked.
“I’m not a regular smoker of weed,” Musk said. “I don’t actually notice any effect…. I don’t find that it is very good for productivity.”