Elon Musk finds himself at the center of a storm engulfing the high-tech carmaker, whose shares have taken a battering.

Iain Morris, International Editor

September 7, 2018

3 Min Read
Dope, Booze, Vitriol & Fraud: Tesla's Car Crash Week

Tesla's car crash of a week has turned into a full-on highway pile-up.

Just hours after one of the automotive company's shareholders sued boss Elon Musk, alleging securities fraud, its chief accounting officer, David Morton, was revealed to have quit. Unhappiness about the pace of work and level of public attention were cited as factors in a Reuters report. (See Tesla Shareholder Sues CEO Musk for Securities Fraud.)

Twitter, one of Musk's favorite communications tools, was abuzz overnight with messages about his appearance on a live web show and podcast with comedian Joe Rogan. Musk was shown smoking marijuana, now a legal habit in the state of California, and knocking back whiskey -- public behavior that would not usually be condoned in a responsible professional, let alone one of the world's most high-profile CEOs.

Fueling conjecture that Musk is having some kind of breakdown were other reports about his renewed attack on Vernon Unsworth, one of the divers who in July rescued boys trapped in a flooded Thai cave. After Unsworth criticized Musk's plans for a submersible to be used in the cave rescue, Musk branded him a "pedo" (which was taken to mean pedophile) on Twitter. Musk subsequently appeared to regret his outburst, deleting the offensive tweet. But he was this week said to have called Unsworth a "child rapist" during an exchange with Buzzfeed reporter Ryan Mac.

And yes, there's more. Bloomberg is carrying a report that Gaby Toledano, Tesla's "chief people officer" (Tesla presumably thinks it is more humanizing than chief HR or personnel officer) is set to leave just a year after joining the business.

Unsurprisingly, Tesla's share price has taken a battering. At the time of writing, it was down about 7% on the Nasdaq, at $261.73, and has lost about 18.3% of its value this year.

For all the latest news from the wireless networking and services sector, check out our dedicated Mobile content channel here on Light Reading.

Is it something about hi-tech car companies? The equally boorish Travis Kalanick was forced to quit his job as CEO of Uber after a string of controversies, including reports of a macho culture within Uber and claims of sexual harassment by female employees. Cars often bring out the worst kind of behavior on the roads. It seems they might do it in the corridors of business power, too. (See Uber Investor Sues to Kick Kalanick Off Board.)

Notwithstanding his reputation as a visionary, many of Tesla's investors must be hoping Musk will do the decent thing, and follow Kalanick's example. Anyone concerned about Musk's mental health, and ability to manage so many other ventures (of which SpaceX, his space exploration company, is the biggest), may feel the same way.

To everyone else, bar Vernon Unsworth, the Musk spectacle has become as entertaining as some of Quentin Tarantino's best work. Where else in the business world can you find a CEO who puffs dope (publicly) like a Sixties stoner, tweets with the narcissism and spitefulness of Donald Trump and dreams up inventions that are the stuff of Hollywood movies? Musk's antics might attract disapproval, but they have given the technology world one of its most colorful individuals this century. The uncertainty is whether they might eventually be his undoing.

— Iain Morris, International Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Iain Morris

International Editor, Light Reading

Iain Morris joined Light Reading as News Editor at the start of 2015 -- and we mean, right at the start. His friends and family were still singing Auld Lang Syne as Iain started sourcing New Year's Eve UK mobile network congestion statistics. Prior to boosting Light Reading's UK-based editorial team numbers (he is based in London, south of the river), Iain was a successful freelance writer and editor who had been covering the telecoms sector for the past 15 years. His work has appeared in publications including The Economist (classy!) and The Observer, besides a variety of trade and business journals. He was previously the lead telecoms analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and before that worked as a features editor at Telecommunications magazine. Iain started out in telecoms as an editor at consulting and market-research company Analysys (now Analysys Mason).

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like