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Tesla's Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charge, Remains CEO

We think the settlement is wise, but Musk is better in a role other than CEO.

Securities In This Article
Tesla Inc
(TSLA)

As discussed in our Sept. 27 note, the SEC has charged

We think Musk was wise to settle this complaint. The penalties are not severe, in our view, and it puts one legal matter behind the company. The U.S. Department of Justice still has a criminal probe regarding Musk’s Aug. 7 “funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private. Tesla’s stock fell 13.9% on Sept. 28 as a result of the complaint, which could have resulted in Musk receiving a lifetime ban on being a director or officer of a public company, something Tesla probably cannot afford, in our opinion.

We think Musk is effectively Tesla, and without him, Tesla is just an automaker burning too much cash and holding too much debt. In our view, the company needs Musk in order to remain able to raise capital to fund building many more Gigafactories over time, along with development of new vehicles such as the Model Y crossover, pickup truck, Semi, and a $25,000 vehicle. However, given more than one debacle on Twitter, taking a puff of marijuana on a podcast, and a New York Times interview where Musk sounded very worn out, we think his skills would best serve the company in a creative role around design and product development, rather than as CEO. The problem for Tesla, in our opinion, is finding someone who will be willing to take on the CEO role while effectively working with Musk, who is a known nano-manager and owns about 20% of the company.

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About the Author

David Whiston, CFA, CPA, CFE

Strategist
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David Whiston, CFA, CPA, CFE, is a strategist for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. He covers the automotive industry, including dealerships, parts manufacturers, and automakers. He has covered the automotive industry since joining Morningstar in 2007.

Before Morningstar, Whiston spent four years in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ New York real estate audit practice and one year in its Chicago office working on real estate acquisition due diligence.

Whiston holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Richmond. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration with concentrations in finance, economics, and organizational behavior from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, and he is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner. In 2012, he ranked first in the specialty retailers and services industry in The Wall Street Journal’s annual “Best on the Street” analysts survey. He ranked first in the same industry in 2011.

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