Tesla Inc's (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has landed himself in hot water from appearing to smoke marijuana on a live-streamed podcast to drawing the attention of the US Securities and Exchange Commission after tweeting about the possible privatization of the electric vehicle company.
The drama surrounding the vehicle maker has taken its toll on the company’s executives, with chief accounting officer Dave Morton and head of human resources Gaby Toldeano exiting the company last week.
READ: Tesla loses its chief accounting officer and head of human resources; shares sink
Justin McNear, the company’s vice president of worldwide finance and operation, is stepping down as well, according to a Bloomberg report.
Asset manager Baillie Gifford's, Tesla’s largest institutional investor, is expressing frustration as well.
"He needs help, and I mean that psychologically as much as practically," said Baillie Gifford’s James Anderson, the fund manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, in an interview with Reuters.
Anderson told Reuters that he had spoken to Musk about his tweets and suggested that the CEO may be warming up to the idea accepting help, possibly hiring a chief operating officer.
Research house Nomura Instinet recently slashed its rating on Tesla shares to Neutral from Buy, citing Musk’s “erratic behavior.”
Shares of Tesla were up more than 3% to US$288.21 in Wednesday afternoon trading.