SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
NEW YORK, Nov 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) – It’s characteristic of Elon Musk that he polled Twitter about whether he should sell 10% of his stake in $1 trillion electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA.O) read more . Following the vote, the chief executive has offloaded about $5 billion of shares this week , although at least some of the sales were flagged weeks before the tweet in question.
The disposals helped knock 12% off Tesla’s value on Tuesday, but that’s minor compared with the roughly 1,500% gain in the company’s stock price over three years. Shareholders, supporters of brash entrepreneurs and electric-vehicle advocates alike can only cheer Musk’s success.
Yet he can also be a liability. A 2018 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over another tweet forced Musk to bring in an independent board chair, former Telstra executive Robyn Denholm. Like other directors, she has done handsomely from option grants. Hers covered shares worth more than $500 million at the end of 2020, and many are now cashed in, including nearly $30 million-worth last week. Aligning directors’ and investors’ interests makes sense. But it’s hard for anyone to hold to account a person who has made them so rich. (By Richard Beales)
On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews
Capital Calls – More concise insights on global finance:
Daimler starts engine on truck M&A monster mashup read more
Engie finds a measured form of green pivot read more
Johnson Matthey quits while it’s behind read more
Burberry’s next CEO job gets even harder read more
Beyond Meat’s aimlessness catches up read more
Editing by Swaha Pattanaik and Amanda Gomez
Reuters Breakingviews is the world’s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.
Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.