Tesla is nominally a car company. Some have alleged it is actually a techno-futurist cult/long-form performance art joke. Now, ask yourself: Which of those two options would do this in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission?
Effective as of March 15, 2021, the titles of Elon Musk and Zach Kirkhorn have changed to Technoking of Tesla and Master of Coin, respectively. Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Separately, Tesla disclosed Monday that Jerome Guillen, president of automotive, has transitioned to the role of President, Tesla Heavy Trucking.
Seems like the kind of thing the leaders of the sixth most valuable company in America, one of whom is alternately the richest or second-richest man on earth, should be spending their time on, and in a filing with a regulator they have gone out of their way to antagonize, no? Very much in line with other ways they have chosen to pass it, and yet both more ridiculous, offensive and sublime than all of them put together. They couldn’t possibly be trying to distract our attention from other, less whimsical matters?
“Further unchecked tweeting by Musk” could “have severe ramifications on the company’s ability to secure financing,” and it “drives out the very voices in the company meant to stand up to him and protect” investors, the complaint says.
The 105-page derivative lawsuit, made public Friday in Delaware Chancery Court, accuses the electric vehicle maker’s board of failing to rein in Musk’s behavior online, even as he has repeatedly violated a 2018 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission…. But he has allegedly “continued to issue tweets without the required pre-approval,” while Tesla churns through in-house attorneys.
We wouldn’t worry about the first part, since no one providing that financing seems to expect Tesla to act like an actual company and not the aforementioned joke cult, and since the correlation between Musk’s erratic behavior and Tesla’s stock price does not seem to be in the direction the lawsuit might assume. (For what it’s worth, TSLA shares are almost exactly 10 times as valuable today as they were on the day of the SEC settlement.) On the other hand, Delaware judges are not known for looking kindly on childish bullshit.
“With all the chances that Musk has been given, it is quite possible that the Chancery Court will have little patience with his latest tweeting adventures,” Rasmussen said.
Tesla Form 8-K [SEC]
Elon Musk is now officially ‘Technoking of Tesla’ [MarketWatch]
Musk, Tesla Board Sued Over Tweeting in Violation of SEC Deal [Bloomberg Law]