Elon Musk needs to step down as Tesla CEO: third largest shareholder, Indonesia billionaire KoGuan Leo

Elon Musk needs to step down as Tesla CEO: third largest shareholder, Indonesia billionaire KoGuan Leo

The third-largest individual shareholder in Tesla, Indonesian billionaire KoGuan Leo has called for the electric carmaker’s CEO Elon Musk to step down from his post and find a replacement, Leo said on Twitter.

Leo, who owned around 22.6 million Tesla shares and 1.23 million stock options valued at around US$3.4 billion (RM15.1 billion) as of August, took to Twitter on Wednesday to say that Musk had “abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO.” Leo is the third-largest individual shareholder after Musk and Oracle CTO and co-founder Larry Ellison.

Tesla shares have been one of the worst-performing among major automakers and tech companies this year, according to Reuters, which reported that investors are worried that Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter could divert his attention away from the EV company, and may sell more Tesla stock to support the social media outlet that has been struggling.

The news wire cited Musk as saying that he will “make sure that Tesla shareholders benefit from Twitter [in the] long-term,” without offering more details.

“Elon is a brilliant business leader. He will realize soon (if not already) that his polarizing political views are hurting customer perceptions of Tesla EVs. Customers don’t want their cars to be controversial. They want to be proud as hell to drive them – not embarrassed,” Tesla proponent Gary Black tweeted on Wednesday according to Reuters.

Musk has history with posting controversial comments on Twitter, years before his acquisition of the social media firm. In 2018, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Musk with misleading investors with tweets in August that year that he was considering taking Tesla private at US$420 a share, though that was retracted later that month.

In 2019, the SEC asked a judge to hold Musk in contempt for violating a legal accord which required him to get Tesla approval for social media postings, with a tweet that wrote “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019.”

Musk clarified a few hours after that to say the company’s annualised production rate by end-2019 would probably be around 500,000, and that only 400,000 will be delivered. Tesla announced that year that it delivered around 367,500 vehicles in 2019.

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Mick Chan

Open roads and closed circuits hold great allure for Mick Chan. Driving heaven to him is exercising a playful chassis on twisty paths; prizes ergonomics and involvement over gadgetry. Spent three years at a motoring newspaper and short stint with a magazine prior to joining this website.

 

Comments

  • EVoption on Dec 23, 2022 at 3:19 pm

    when the SHIP catches small fires ….. some will abandon “ship …. Just in case”.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 1
  • Rakyat Malaysia on Dec 23, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    3rd largest shareholder sitting with the most richest man globally while majority rakyat in his country lives under decrepit hovels. Well done Jokowi for pushing the rakyat Indon rich becoming richer!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 31
    • the driver on Dec 24, 2022 at 9:58 am

      Agreed. Whilst the pursuit of monetary gains through investment is entirely his choice, it smacks of sheer arrogance when his fellow countrymen live in squalid conditions and little is done to alleviate except for hand outs.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 8
    • The don't on Dec 25, 2022 at 6:37 am

      Indonesian born lives in America. He don’t give a shit about Indonesia. And, the only living person had a school after his name in China. Get the picture?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 2
    • Redrai on Dec 25, 2022 at 12:00 pm

      The same can be said of Elon, how many of the poor has he helped out in the US? Just becos he is Asian you pick on him? Why not pick on Indian’s richest man too, he built a 60 storey building as a home, amid some of the poorest people in India, yet you all are picking on this guy, says a lot about you who put Leo and not Elon

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 1
  • Tin Kosong Tian Chua on Dec 23, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    What so cool about tesla cars? SHIT and JUNK.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 26 Thumb down 6
    • Overrated car

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 5
    • Chris on Dec 24, 2022 at 7:34 am

      Tesla is not a car company, it’s the tech and data that’s valuable. Lots of EV only comparing Km/range and speed as their selling point (perhaps with looks / design), beyond that, it’s nothing more to be compared, just car. If you study how Tesla develop their tech and product, you’ll be impressed despite flaws

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5
  • David on Dec 25, 2022 at 12:54 pm

    Just because one is a billionaire does not make you worthwhile as far as wisdom goes. There are hundreds of billionaires, mostly trading based. They don’t create innovation, vision and creative products. Hence they should either take a second row to people like Musk or take their time shuffling their paper money elsewhere.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
 

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