Latest news with #RossGerber
The Age
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Age
Why Elon Musk may have reached the end of the road at Tesla
'In real life he would be sacked from Tesla and somebody would actually run the company,' says Ross Gerber, an early investor who has called for Musk to go. 'If he's going to do politics, then he shouldn't be the chief executive. There's a lot of work that needs to be done at Tesla.' Political distractions Most investors have said they want Musk to stay in charge of the company, but they want him to commit to the job full time. Despite his frequent controversies, he is recognised as a uniquely talented executive who has repeatedly defied his doubters. Sales may be in decline, but the company is pressing ahead with the launch of driverless taxi rides in the US, a business that Musk has said is Tesla's future. In May, a group of shareholders wrote to Tesla's board asking that Musk commit to working 40 hours a week at the company. 'The current crisis at Tesla puts into sharp focus the long-term problems at the company stemming from the CEO's absence, which is amplified by a board that appears largely uninterested and unwilling to act,' it said. At the time, Musk acknowledged the concerns, promising to pare back his work at the White House's department of government efficiency and return '24/7″ to his businesses, which also include rocket company SpaceX and social network X. But his spat with Trump and promises to end America's two-party system indicated that he had once again become distracted. Loading On Monday, Tesla's shares fell 8 per cent as Musk's launch of the America Party reignited questions about his commitment to Tesla. James Fishback, a Trump-supporting investment manager, has written to Tesla's board asking it to force Musk to clarify his political ambitions. 'This [running a party] is a full-time job, and the question is whether this full-time job is compatible with his full-time job as Tesla chief executive,' he says. 'When Elon deviates from its core competency and does things that are self-destructive, the share price rightfully responds.' Individual shareholders, however disgruntled, have little influence over Musk. The company's board, which would be formally responsible for firing him if it came to it, contains several Musk allies. In May, Robyn Denholm, the company's chairman, swiftly denied a Wall Street Journal report that the company had started looking for a successor. And the majority of shareholders last year backed a $US56 billion pay package for its chief executive. Who could replace Musk? There would also be the tricky task of replacing Musk, who, as the company's largest shareholder, would continue to be actively involved. Last week X's chief executive Linda Yaccarino resigned after two years in which she had regularly been undermined by Musk's behaviour. The most likely candidate would be an insider such as JB Straubel, the company's former technology chief, or Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen. Musk would bristle at any attempt to replace him. He has said he wants to run Tesla for another five years, predicting that it will be the most valuable company in the world. When Wall Street analyst Dan Ives last week called on the board to rein him in, Musk tweeted back: 'Shut up, Dan'.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why Elon Musk may have reached the end of the road at Tesla
'In real life he would be sacked from Tesla and somebody would actually run the company,' says Ross Gerber, an early investor who has called for Musk to go. 'If he's going to do politics, then he shouldn't be the chief executive. There's a lot of work that needs to be done at Tesla.' Political distractions Most investors have said they want Musk to stay in charge of the company, but they want him to commit to the job full time. Despite his frequent controversies, he is recognised as a uniquely talented executive who has repeatedly defied his doubters. Sales may be in decline, but the company is pressing ahead with the launch of driverless taxi rides in the US, a business that Musk has said is Tesla's future. In May, a group of shareholders wrote to Tesla's board asking that Musk commit to working 40 hours a week at the company. 'The current crisis at Tesla puts into sharp focus the long-term problems at the company stemming from the CEO's absence, which is amplified by a board that appears largely uninterested and unwilling to act,' it said. At the time, Musk acknowledged the concerns, promising to pare back his work at the White House's department of government efficiency and return '24/7″ to his businesses, which also include rocket company SpaceX and social network X. But his spat with Trump and promises to end America's two-party system indicated that he had once again become distracted. Loading On Monday, Tesla's shares fell 8 per cent as Musk's launch of the America Party reignited questions about his commitment to Tesla. James Fishback, a Trump-supporting investment manager, has written to Tesla's board asking it to force Musk to clarify his political ambitions. 'This [running a party] is a full-time job, and the question is whether this full-time job is compatible with his full-time job as Tesla chief executive,' he says. 'When Elon deviates from its core competency and does things that are self-destructive, the share price rightfully responds.' Individual shareholders, however disgruntled, have little influence over Musk. The company's board, which would be formally responsible for firing him if it came to it, contains several Musk allies. In May, Robyn Denholm, the company's chairman, swiftly denied a Wall Street Journal report that the company had started looking for a successor. And the majority of shareholders last year backed a $US56 billion pay package for its chief executive. Who could replace Musk? There would also be the tricky task of replacing Musk, who, as the company's largest shareholder, would continue to be actively involved. Last week X's chief executive Linda Yaccarino resigned after two years in which she had regularly been undermined by Musk's behaviour. The most likely candidate would be an insider such as JB Straubel, the company's former technology chief, or Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen. Musk would bristle at any attempt to replace him. He has said he wants to run Tesla for another five years, predicting that it will be the most valuable company in the world. When Wall Street analyst Dan Ives last week called on the board to rein him in, Musk tweeted back: 'Shut up, Dan'.
CNN
2 days ago
- Automotive
- CNN
Tesla shareholders want a full-time CEO. That's not how Musk works
This is a crucial year for Tesla. Just ask Elon Musk. In January, he described 2025 as 'maybe the most important' in the company's history, with the admittedly ambitious goals of releasing its long-promised robotaxi service and humanoid robots. But Musk's attention was monopolized by a high-profile role in the Trump administration as problems at Tesla began to mount. Even after stepping very far away from that role, Musk remains focused on a wide range of activities outside of Tesla, including starting a third political party and trying to fix problems at X, his social media platform. The leaves Tesla — the most valuable automaker on the planet, employing 125,000 worldwide — missing one thing every other major company has: a full-time boss focused on its future. Instead, the company has a chief executive who is so polarizing its costing the company sales and likely the ability to attract talent. While Tesla's board and shareholders aren't likely to show him the door, they probably should. 'To have one of the biggest companies in the world, not have a full-time CEO is unheard of,' said Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, an investment firm and one of the early investors in Tesla. Gerber, a previous fan of the company and Musk, thinks he has now become a problem for Tesla. 'The fact of the matter is that Tesla is a massive company that needs a lot of attention, and it just isn't getting it,' Gerber told CNN. Tesla faces a slew of problems, like plunging profits and the biggest drop in sales in the company's history, partly due to severe brand damage caused by Musk's political activities. Then there's regulatory credits, a huge source of revenue for Tesla, disappearing under the tax and spending bill just passed by Congress. The bill also took away a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle buyers, which will further cut into demand. Meanwhile, Tesla's once-high-flying stock has lost more than a third of its value since hitting a record high last December. A company facing such serious problems needs a CEO who is laser-focused. The mounting problems even have some Tesla bulls believing there needs to be more constraints on Musk. 'We believe this is a tipping point in the Tesla story and ultimately the Tesla Board needs to act now and set the ground rules for Musk going forward around his political ambitions and actions,' Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note to clients this week. Ives said the board should impose rules for how much time Musk must spend at Tesla and introduce an oversight committee for his political activities. 'Tesla is heading into one of the most important stages of its growth cycle with the autonomous and robotics future now on the doorstep and cannot have Musk spending more and more time creating a political party which will require countless time, energy, and political capital,' Ives wrote. Tesla did not respond to CNN's request for comment on calls for Musk to spend more time at the company. However, Musk responded to Ives' suggestion by posting on X, 'Shut up, Dan.' But it's not just analysts calling for Musk to be required to show up at the job that made him the richest person on the planet. A number of Tesla shareholders, including some Democrats who oversee the investment of public sector pension fund money in Tesla stock, complained in May to Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm that Musk's other activities are hurting the company. 'Musk's outside endeavors appear to have diverted his time and attention from actively managing Tesla's operations, as any other chief executive officer of a publicly traded company would be expected to do,' said the letter. 'The current crisis at Tesla puts into sharp focus the long-term problems at the company stemming from the CEO's absence.' Even if Musk is forced to focus solely on Tesla, Gerber says Musk doesn't seem excited anymore about its core EV business, which continues to lose market share even as sales of electric vehicles increase around the globe. 'He doesn't want to be in the car business anymore,' said Gerber. 'He knows that everybody hates him. So, he thinks, 'Let's just focus on this robotaxi business and making robots, because if I put a big shiny object in front of people, they'll be distracted from the reality that Tesla has real problems and I don't have a solution for them.'' Tesla fans will argue that what matters now is the rollout of its robotaxi service, as well as developments in self-driving, robots and artificial intelligence. But there are serious questions as to whether Musk is the right person to oversee the challenging transition. For example, the robotaxi business finally debuted last month in Austin, Texas, but on a very limited basis and only for invited guests, not the general public. That is far behind the robotaxi efforts of Alphabet's Waymo, which is already providing more than 250,000 paid rides a week in Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Gerber said he still drives a Tesla himself and has made more than $100 million on investments in the company. But he says he's sold virtually all his Tesla shares and advised clients to do the same. Gerber said he's frustrated because, with the right leadership, the company could achieve all its goals. But Musk, he says, is not the right leader. 'I don't think he has any grasp or grip on reality and any way at this point, and it doesn't seem to be anybody there to shake him and be like, 'Dude, you know, you're not seeing the world like that everybody else right now,'' he said. But Gerber also doesn't see the Tesla board putting any limits on Musk, let alone replacing him. 'He's not going anywhere,' he said.
CNN
2 days ago
- Automotive
- CNN
Tesla shareholders want a full-time CEO. That's not how Musk works
This is a crucial year for Tesla. Just ask Elon Musk. In January, he described 2025 as 'maybe the most important' in the company's history, with the admittedly ambitious goals of releasing its long-promised robotaxi service and humanoid robots. But Musk's attention was monopolized by a high-profile role in the Trump administration as problems at Tesla began to mount. Even after stepping very far away from that role, Musk remains focused on a wide range of activities outside of Tesla, including starting a third political party and trying to fix problems at X, his social media platform. The leaves Tesla — the most valuable automaker on the planet, employing 125,000 worldwide — missing one thing every other major company has: a full-time boss focused on its future. Instead, the company has a chief executive who is so polarizing its costing the company sales and likely the ability to attract talent. While Tesla's board and shareholders aren't likely to show him the door, they probably should. 'To have one of the biggest companies in the world, not have a full-time CEO is unheard of,' said Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, an investment firm and one of the early investors in Tesla. Gerber, a previous fan of the company and Musk, thinks he has now become a problem for Tesla. 'The fact of the matter is that Tesla is a massive company that needs a lot of attention, and it just isn't getting it,' Gerber told CNN. Tesla faces a slew of problems, like plunging profits and the biggest drop in sales in the company's history, partly due to severe brand damage caused by Musk's political activities. Then there's regulatory credits, a huge source of revenue for Tesla, disappearing under the tax and spending bill just passed by Congress. The bill also took away a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle buyers, which will further cut into demand. Meanwhile, Tesla's once-high-flying stock has lost more than a third of its value since hitting a record high last December. A company facing such serious problems needs a CEO who is laser-focused. The mounting problems even have some Tesla bulls believing there needs to be more constraints on Musk. 'We believe this is a tipping point in the Tesla story and ultimately the Tesla Board needs to act now and set the ground rules for Musk going forward around his political ambitions and actions,' Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note to clients this week. Ives said the board should impose rules for how much time Musk must spend at Tesla and introduce an oversight committee for his political activities. 'Tesla is heading into one of the most important stages of its growth cycle with the autonomous and robotics future now on the doorstep and cannot have Musk spending more and more time creating a political party which will require countless time, energy, and political capital,' Ives wrote. Tesla did not respond to CNN's request for comment on calls for Musk to spend more time at the company. However, Musk responded to Ives' suggestion by posting on X, 'Shut up, Dan.' But it's not just analysts calling for Musk to be required to show up at the job that made him the richest person on the planet. A number of Tesla shareholders, including some Democrats who oversee the investment of public sector pension fund money in Tesla stock, complained in May to Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm that Musk's other activities are hurting the company. 'Musk's outside endeavors appear to have diverted his time and attention from actively managing Tesla's operations, as any other chief executive officer of a publicly traded company would be expected to do,' said the letter. 'The current crisis at Tesla puts into sharp focus the long-term problems at the company stemming from the CEO's absence.' Even if Musk is forced to focus solely on Tesla, Gerber says Musk doesn't seem excited anymore about its core EV business, which continues to lose market share even as sales of electric vehicles increase around the globe. 'He doesn't want to be in the car business anymore,' said Gerber. 'He knows that everybody hates him. So, he thinks, 'Let's just focus on this robotaxi business and making robots, because if I put a big shiny object in front of people, they'll be distracted from the reality that Tesla has real problems and I don't have a solution for them.'' Tesla fans will argue that what matters now is the rollout of its robotaxi service, as well as developments in self-driving, robots and artificial intelligence. But there are serious questions as to whether Musk is the right person to oversee the challenging transition. For example, the robotaxi business finally debuted last month in Austin, Texas, but on a very limited basis and only for invited guests, not the general public. That is far behind the robotaxi efforts of Alphabet's Waymo, which is already providing more than 250,000 paid rides a week in Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Gerber said he still drives a Tesla himself and has made more than $100 million on investments in the company. But he says he's sold virtually all his Tesla shares and advised clients to do the same. Gerber said he's frustrated because, with the right leadership, the company could achieve all its goals. But Musk, he says, is not the right leader. 'I don't think he has any grasp or grip on reality and any way at this point, and it doesn't seem to be anybody there to shake him and be like, 'Dude, you know, you're not seeing the world like that everybody else right now,'' he said. But Gerber also doesn't see the Tesla board putting any limits on Musk, let alone replacing him. 'He's not going anywhere,' he said.
Gizmodo
08-07-2025
- Automotive
- Gizmodo
It's Time for Elon Musk to Step Down as Tesla CEO
Unless you live on Mars—Elon Musk's favorite planet—you've probably noticed something: over the last six to eight months, the world's richest man has become a major liability for Tesla. Since the start of the year, Tesla has lost more than $350 billion in market value. Worse, the electric carmaker has become entangled in the political chaos surrounding its increasingly controversial CEO. Every time Musk picks a fight online—most recently with former ally Donald Trump—Tesla investors hold their breath. Retail shareholders, in particular, are left hoping the fallout won't tank the stock any further. But their prayers are going unanswered. Some investors have looked to the board of directors for a check on Musk's behavior. But Tesla isn't a traditional company, and its board has proven largely ineffective. Musk himself sits on the board, along with his brother Kimbal, and several others with deep personal or business ties to him. James Murdoch, for instance, is part of Musk's inner circle. During Musk's 2022 battle to buy Twitter, private court documents revealed that Murdoch and his wife were among those Musk confided in. JB Straubel, another board member, co-founded Tesla. Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, joined Musk's controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Ira Ehrenpreis was an early investor in Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company. As former Tesla investor Ross Gerber put it on X: 'There is no Tesla BOD. It's a joke. They are Elon vampires sucking the blood of Tesla equity. They will do and say nothing.' There is no tesla BOD. It's a joke. They are Elon vampires sucking the blood of tesla equity. They will do and say nothing. No one wants the Elon First party. No one. — Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) July 7, 2025Back in December 2022, when Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover tanked Tesla's stock, Gerber again blasted the board: 'Elon has now erased $600 billion of Tesla wealth and still nothing from the Tesla BOD. It's wholly unacceptable.' Elon has now erased $600 bil of tesla wealth and still nothing from the Tesla BOD. It's wholly unacceptable. $tsla — Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) December 16, 2022Musk doesn't have to leave Tesla entirely. His vision still gives the company an edge. But it's time for him to relinquish the CEO title, if only to insulate Tesla from the chaos of his personal and political battles. The 'Musk mystique' still holds weight. When he announced the soft launch of Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin last month, the market reacted with wild optimism, even though the premiere involved just a few hand-picked superfans and required a human monitor in the passenger seat. Experts briefly forgot that Google's Waymo has been leading in autonomous vehicles for years. That's the power of Musk. But here's the truth: Musk no longer seems interested in building cars. Tesla hasn't launched a brand-new model in years. The Cybertruck, its most recent release, is widely considered a flop. Musk is focused elsewhere: on Optimus, the humanoid robot, and on Tesla's software ambitions like Full Self-Driving (FSD) and robotics. Yes, these are important areas for Tesla's future. But right now, the company needs to deliver real products in a highly competitive EV market. GM, BYD, and a wave of Chinese automakers are flooding the field with fresh, affordable models. Tesla's once-blazing star is dimming. Meanwhile, Musk is consumed by politics. He helped bankroll Donald Trump's return to the White House with nearly $290 million in spending. Then he had a very public falling out with Trump. Now, he's attempting to launch his own political movement—the America Party—while lobbing policy bombs at both Republicans and Democrats. He's trying to influence everything from electric vehicle mandates to NASA leadership. It's clear that this political obsession isn't temporary. It amuses him. It gives him power. It scratches the itch of global influence. But it also puts Tesla shareholders in the crossfire. It's a pipe dream to think Musk will abandon his political ambitions; it's a game he clearly enjoys playing. The sooner Tesla and its beleaguered investors accept this reality, the better it will be for their wallets. There's no reason Musk can't continue to shape Tesla's vision. But the company needs a CEO who's focused on building cars, not building a political party. Musk can remain as Chief Product Architect or visionary founder, but it's time for him to abandon the CEO title and let someone else steer the ship. Until that happens, the real risk to Tesla won't be from competitors. It'll be from the man who built it.
