FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 car is displayed during a media preview at the Auto China 2018 motor show in Beijing, China April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo
(Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Friday named two independent board directors as part of a September deal with federal regulators to move past the turbulence following Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s tweet about taking the electric carmaker private.
The company said Oracle Corp’s (ORCL.N) founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA.O) global head of human resources Kathleen Wilson-Thompson joined the board as independent directors, effective Dec. 27. Ellison bought 3 million shares of Tesla earlier this year.
“In Larry and Kathleen, we have added a preeminent entrepreneur and a human resources leader, both of whom have a passion for sustainable energy,” Tesla said.
Under an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk agreed to pay a $20 million fine and step aside as Tesla’s chairman for three years to settle charges that could have forced his exit. Tesla also agreed to pay a $20 million fine.
Tesla also agreed to appoint an independent chairman, two independent directors and a board committee to control Musk’s communications.
A U.S. judge in October approved the deal resulting from Musk’s Aug. 7 tweets that he was considering taking the company private and had secured funding, which prompted the SEC to file fraud charges against him.
In November, Tesla named director Robyn Denholm as board chair, fulfilling one of the demands. She joined Tesla as an independent director in 2014 and agreed to step down from her job as finance chief of Australian telecoms firm Telstra Corp Ltd (TLS.AX).
The stock dropped in September after the SEC accused Musk, 47, of fraud over his “false and misleading” tweets on Aug. 7.
The company’s shares were up 4.4 percent at $330 in early trading on Friday.
Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila