Tesla's vocal shareholder to pursue board seat to rein in Elon Musk

Ross Gerber plans to be a 'friendly activist' and push for greater clarity on insider stock sales at the EV maker

Tesla needs to build its image around Tesla, and not just around its chief executive, says Ross Gerber who plans to pursue a board seat at Tesla. Reuter

Ross Gerber, a vocal Tesla shareholder, said he will pursue a board seat at the electric-vehicle maker, with the goal of reining-in chief executive Elon Musk.

Mr Gerber, who is co-founder and chief executive of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, confirmed his intentions during a Twitter Spaces audio conference hosted by Bloomberg on Friday. He said he will formally announce his plans next week.

“I think it is crucially important to take criticism and this is something that I have realised over the years with Elon, you know, he’s very thin skinned,” Mr Gerber said. “I’ve kind of had enough.”

Mr Musk and representatives for Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Gerber did not say how he intended to win the board seat. He said he had close relationships with some of Tesla’s biggest institutional investors, including Ark Investment Management (0.15 per cent) and Baillie Gifford and Company (0.85 per cent), but did not say if they supported his board run.

Mr Gerber’s firm held around 440,000 Tesla shares, or 0.01 per cent of the company, as of December 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In a message to Bloomberg News, Mr Gerber said he had a pledge from Leo KoGuan, who is one of the largest individual investors in Tesla.

Mr KoGuan has criticised Musk’s management of Tesla and has said the “board is missing in action.”

Ark Investment Management and Baillie Gifford and Company did not respond to requests for comment. Mr KoGuan could not be reached for comment.

Mr Gerber, who is based in Santa Monica, California, and who also holds Tesla stock as an individual or retail investor, said he is working with thousands of Tesla shareholders overall and is also talking to owners of Tesla vehicles to get a sense of how Mr Musk is regarded.

“Tesla needs to build its image around Tesla, and not just around Elon,” he said on the Spaces call, adding: “I think it’s time for Tesla to grow up.”

He said he plans to be a “friendly activist” on the board and was also co-ordinating with other retail and institutional investors.

During the call, Mr Gerber outlined a few plans he had for Austin, Texas-based Tesla if elected to the board. Nearly all had to do with Mr Musk.

He said he would want to address what he perceived as a conflict of interest for Mr Musk as chief executive at other companies, particularly Twitter, and particularly raised concerns about his compensation and time spent at Tesla versus competing duties as Twitter’s chief executive. Mr Gerber said he would also want to work on a succession plan.

He also said he would push for greater clarity on insider stock sales to avoid large tranches of stock being sold in the open market without shareholders understanding why.

The biography for Mr Gerber on his firm’s website does not list any other board positions on publicly traded companies.