Tesla’s top investor wants to leave the “divisive” musk

“The company’s reputation was destroyed by Elon Musk,” says Ross Gerber, one of the first managers to invest in Tesla. “The business was neglected” and lost on several fronts.

One of the first investors at Tesla appealed on Wednesday the resignation of Elon Musk from the company’s CEO, who at this time faces a “crisis”, admits the manager Ross Gerber– The shares have fallen more than 40% since January, and the company’s market value has fallen more than $ 800 billion (about 739 billion euros) since December.

For Gerber, whose fortune management company currently has about 260,000 Tesla shares of about $ 105 million (about 97 million euros), according to, the reason for the request is simple: “The company’s reputation was destroyed by Elon Musk.”

The investor’s problem with the CEO who now makes politics is expected: the loss of focus on the company and the new priority of the billionaire, which has played an increasingly relevant role in the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“I think Tesla needs a new executive director and I decided to start saying it,” Gerber confessed, arguing that Musk’s involvement in politics made him “divisiveAnd distracted him from increasingly fundamental operations at Tesla.

“It’s time for someone to manage Tesla. The business was neglected for too long. There are too many important things that Tesla is doing, ”explained the investor, who did what can be understood as a completed to the tycoon.

“Either Elon returns to Tesla and is Tesla’s CEO and gives up his other jobs or focuses on the government and will continue to do what he is doing, but he finds an appropriate CEO for Tesla,” he said, alluding to the role of Musk as leader of the Government Efficiency Department () created by Trump and through which the billionaire is making deep cuts in several federal agencies and institutions.

The last times have not been easy for Tesla, and the difficulties have made Gerber sell part of its actions in recent months, confesses its own, especially after, where sales have come down to more than half in February – a fall in part by the acts of Musk and his own extremely right connectionsbut also for increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers of cheaper electric vehicles and the potential increase in costs, the result of Trump’s trade policies.

“Sales are falling pique, so yes, it’s a crisis,” admits the shareholder: “You can’t sell the best product on the market because the CEO can be and very divisive“And it did not forget the purchase of X, which also contributes to the“ stain ”in Tesla’s reputation.