Tesla’s stock experienced a 2% increase on Thursday, with a spike towards the end of the trading session. The increase followed Elon Musk’s announcement that he would step down from his position as Twitter’s CEO.
Musk’s tweet stated that he had a new CEO for X/Twitter, who would begin in approximately six weeks, and that he would transition to being exec chair and CTO, overseeing product, software, and sysops.
On Thursday, Tesla’s stock closed at $172.08 and saw a further increase in after-hours trading. Despite this, Elon Musk has faced significant criticism from investors over the past year due to the Twitter takeover saga.
Firstly, for selling billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock to fund the purchase, and secondly, from shareholders who believe that he cannot effectively run Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter simultaneously.
In April, 17 Tesla shareholders, including major pensions and institutions, called for the board to rein in Musk. They accused the eccentric billionaire of neglecting his publicly traded EV company and argued that corporate boards should intervene if a chief executive appears to be distracted or overly focused on other ventures.
Critics have argued that Musk’s leadership of multiple companies has resulted in him being unable to address the strategic and competitive issues facing Tesla. This point was raised by 17 Tesla shareholders who called for the board to intervene and rein in Musk.
Investor Dan Nathan pointed to Musk’s mountain of debt from the Twitter takeover as a reason to believe that pressure was being exerted on Tesla and that Musk’s time as the chief executive of three companies was coming to an end. Musk has, however, slashed costs at the social media platform through mass layoffs over the recent months.
Despite the criticism, supporters like Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood have defended Musk’s leadership and business savvy.
