Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) investors have slammed the electric vehicle manufacturer’s board for failing to rein in chief executive Elon Musk’s attention from his other companies.
Tesla’s board has “permitted” Musk to hold other positions at SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, OpenAI and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), investors holding over US$1.5bn worth of shares wrote in an open letter, leaving him unable to address issues at the EV maker.
“Tesla shareholders need their chief executive to be focused exclusively on solving the issues their company is currently facing,” the group said.
“Without a full-time chief executive and a board willing to provide meaningful oversight, we are concerned that Tesla will not be prepared to effectively navigate the increasingly competitive environment for EV sales.”
Musk has repeatedly been accused of abandoning Tesla since launching his bid to buy Twitter for US$44bn in April 2022.
Tesla’s market cap fell by nearly US$600bn in that time, the investors noted, prompted by shares slipping some 50% as Musk offloaded a combined US$40bn of the company’s stock to fund the takeover.
Calling on Tesla to limit Musk’s engagements with his other firms or sack board members with close ties to the world’s second-richest person, investors gave the company until May 25 to set up a meeting.