Elon Musk introduces Tesla leadership team for the first time to appease shareholders

Recently, electric car company Tesla held a shareholder meeting led by billionaire Elon Musk to share his vision around sustainable energy products. On stage that day, Musk being escorted by 16 CEOs was expected to appease shareholders, that Tesla itself is not just Elon Musk.

Over the course of four hours, the leadership team detailed the plan behind the move to cut costs, develop software, and manufacture batteries. This will lay the groundwork for the next generation of vehicles, they say, and help Tesla increase its annual deliveries to 20 million from 1.3 million last year.

” Obviously we have considerable strength off the bench ,” Musk said, glancing at the managers around him. ” Maybe we have too many people on the stage .”

Tesla has recently been at the center of a debate about how the world’s most valuable automaker should be viewed: a traditional company with a lower valuation or a rising technology company. grow at a higher valuation?

According to Brenda Vingiello, chief investment officer of Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC: “I’m sure Musk is… trying to show that Tesla isn’t just about Elon Musk.”

That day, Elon Musk didn’t receive any questions about Twitter, where he is working to cut costs and try to restructure the platform following a $44 billion deal at the end of October. Investors also lobbied Musk to withdraw from Twitter, while others asked about plans to transfer CEOs at Tesla.

Musk played a core role in many events. This CEO is considered the owner of a long-term vision and the largest fortune in the leadership ranks.

Some have only played a supporting role, such as Design Director Franz von Holzhausen. This is the character who threw a metal ball through the window of the Cybertruck – something Musk tried to advertise as “unbreakable” in 2019. Franz von Holzhausen shared the design process that day. for Tesla, and of course, avoid throwing anything on the stage.

Experts have long watched Musk’s plans to introduce new leadership. The awkward appearance of Vice President of Technology Drew Baglino at the 2019 annual shareholder meeting with co-founder JB Straubel raised concerns that Mr. Straubel may be leaving Tesla.

A few weeks later, it was true that Straubel had left the leadership ranks, and Mr. Baglino assumed the role of head of the system. During a recent meeting, he and Musk discussed Tesla’s broader goal of replacing fossil fuels with electricity.

Of the 16 CEOs standing on stage, many are unknown to the media. They don’t have a say in quarterly meetings, and their titles aren’t listed on the company’s website. These people have spent years devoted to Tesla but are not taken seriously.

“ We never talked about the leadership team, nor did we ask them to talk about their work at Tesla ,” said CFO Zach Kirkhorn.

Longtime Tesla China chief Tom Zhu, wearing a black T-shirt that reads “Gigafactory,” made his debut in his new role as CEO of production, sales and service chains. Global. Brandon Ehrhart, Tesla’s new general counsel, was also present. “ We have an active management team and board .”

Earlier, during a 2020 event, Mr. Musk and Baglino presented the Tesla battery strategy, and unveiled a $25,000 electric car. At the end of the session, the 8-member team had the opportunity to debut to a large audience, but most of them were quiet and appeared faint.

Recently, Elon Musk is trying to promote the leadership team more, partly to appease investors. 16 leaders standing on the same stage recently is a typical example.

Even so, the 4-hour presentation still did not win much sympathy. According to Bloomberg, there is even an opinion that Elon Musk’s “The Third Master Plan” is a failure. They said the most valuable electric car company in the US did not provide any details about the next generation of electric vehicles – which is already highly anticipated.

“ The earth will transition to a sustainable energy economy. And it will happen in your lifetime ,” Musk began.

Instead, Musk talked about the Cybertruck, the autopilot problem, and the improvements coming to them. These are described by BI as “frivolous” because many people only expect Tesla to launch more affordable versions of electric cars. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, was also present, but only answered the very vague question: ” We’ll go as fast as we can .”

Thus, low-cost electric cars – the “holy grail” in the process of making Tesla a leader in the process of global electrification is still quite elusive. The promise of an affordable vehicle has so far lasted nearly 17 years since the first Master Plan was revealed.

Reportedly, the Master Plan first laid out Tesla’s go-to-market strategy to build an electric sports car, followed by a series of more affordable cars.

By: WSJ, BI