Ross Gerber — one of the earliest investors in the Tesla electric vehicle company — is now calling on South African centibillionaire Elon Musk to step down from his role as chief executive.
Gerber delivered his remarks on Sky News, where he made it clear that he felt Musk had caused significant damage to Tesla’s brand with his embrace of far-right politics and his public presence in President Donald Trump’s administration. In his unofficial role atop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has been the face of mass firings of federal workers and has angered millions of Americans in his repeated calls to cut Social Security to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
“I think Tesla needs a new CEO,” said Gerber, who is president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management. “It’s time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long. There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon [Musk] should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing but find a suitable CEO of Tesla.”
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In the last three months, Tesla’s share price has shed more than 50% of its value, trading from more than $483 per share to approximately $225 per share as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Gerber said last week that despite the company’s losses, he still expects its stock to continue sliding downward unless the company can significantly increase its sales.
While Tesla investors are watching the value of their holdings evaporate, Tesla’s “short sellers” (investors who bet on a stock to fail) have been getting richer in recent months. The Financial Times recently reported that hedge funds that have taken a short position on the company’s stock have made $16.2 billion since December. JPMorgan has projected that Tesla’s share price may drop to as low as $120 per share by the end of the year if current trends remain steady.
Tesla’s sales are faltering both in the United States and around the globe. The company’s European sales have seen a dramatic drop since Musk endorsed the far-right AfD party in Germany’s parliamentary elections last month. And in the United States, there have been more frequent Tesla Takedown protests at the company’s dealerships across the country.
“The company’s reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk,” Gerber told Sky News. “Sales are plummeting so, yeah, it’s a crisis. You literally can’t sell the best product in the marketplace because the CEO is so divisive.”
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Click here to read Sky News’ full report.
