One of Tesla’s earliest investors has told Sky News Elon Musk should step aside as its chief executive unless he gives up his new government job.
Ross Gerber said in an interview with Sky’s Business Live that the tycoon and adviser to Donald Trump had lost his focus given his widening interests and was now too “divisive”.
He cited Musk’s post-election role at the helm of the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It has attracted public anger, and protests, over planned swingeing cuts to federal government staff.
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Mr Gerber said: “I think Tesla needs a new CEO and I decided today I was going to start saying it and so this is the first show that I’m saying it on.
“It’s time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long. There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing but find a suitable CEO of Tesla.”
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Mr Gerber told presenter Darren McCaffrey that the business was “absolutely” in crisis and the appointment was among several reasons he had sold off a substantial number of shares in recent months.
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A slump began shortly before Mr Trump took office, as the first salvoes of the president’s trade war were being threatened.
Tesla’s market value has plunged by more than $800bn since December and it was a further 4% down in US trading on Tuesday.
The business has been struggling on several fronts.
Electric car demand appears to have peaked across key Western markets despite steep discounting to boost appeal at a time of continued strain on consumer budgets.
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Also in the mix is cheap Chinese competition nibbling away at Tesla’s market share.
Add the potential for heightened costs due to Mr Trump’s trade war, it is of little surprise that investors are concerned.
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Mr Gerber said that while Tesla’s products were undoubtedly the best around, Mr Musk only had 24 hours in the day and he had split his time too thinly since his purchase of Twitter in 2022.
He added that his social media posts and work with the president since had brought too much negative publicity to Tesla.
“The company’s reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk”, he said.
“Sales are plummeting so, yeh, it’s a crisis. You literally can’t sell the best product in the market place because the CEO is so divisive”.
