Topline
One of the best-known Tesla analysts laid out a plan for the electric and self-driving vehicle giant’s board to curb the firm’s controversial CEO Elon Musk, the latest evidence of Wall Street growing fed up with Musk’s non-Tesla actions, including an ugly spat with President Donald Trump.
The plan includes what amounts to babysitters for the world’s richest man Musk.
Tesla’s board “needs to act now and set the ground rules for Musk going forward around his political ambitions and actions,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a Tuesday morning note to clients.
Ives, whose criticism is particularly notable since he’s the most bullish on Tesla stock of any of the 55 analysts tracked by FactSet, laid out a three-pronged recommendation for the board.
They should approve a new compensation package that would roughly double Musk’s voting rights at the company to 25%, simultaneously setting a provision on exactly how much time Musk is required to spend at the company—a long-desired policy by many investors because Musk dedicated much of his time in recent years to right-wing politics, social media and his private companies.
Most crucially, Ives recommended what amounts to a babysitting group for the 54-year-old Musk.
The board should “create a special Board oversight committee for Musk around his political ambitions and ground rules that would violate his pay package,” suggested Ives.
Shares of Tesla rose 1% in premarket trading, but remained down more than 10% since Musk began to publicly go after Trump last month. The stock tumbled 6% Monday as investors reacted to Musk’s launch of a new political party, leading to a $12 billion drop in Musk’s net worth.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.