Tragedy of Tesla co-founder after being taken over by Elon Musk as CEO: Unemployment, running out of money for 2 years

Right now, Tesla is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Because of that, many people may think that one of the founders of Tesla will be sought after in the job market.

But the reality is not like that! Recently, Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard shared with Business Insider that he once fell into unemployment and ran out of money after being pushed out of the position of CEO of the company in 2007.

“After I left Tesla, I was basically unemployed for about two years because of the intellectual property deal between me and Tesla. My situation for the first few years was unemployment and running out of money,” Eberhard said. know.

Eberhard and his longtime friend (also Tesla co-founder) – Marc Tarpenning are the people who came up with the idea and founded Tesla. However, Eberhard’s contract with Tesla means the company owns the rights to the products he creates. It also does not allow Eberhard to work with another auto company within two years of quitting.

“ By the end of that two-year period, Volkswagen had hired me ,” says Eberhard. He joined this car company in the fall of 2009.

Eberhard stepped down as CEO of Tesla about three years after Elon Musk invested in the company. Eberhard once said that Musk and the Tesla board met behind his back to vote for Musk to replace him as CEO. Instead, Eberhard moved into the role of president of technology at Tesla, but he hardly has as much power as before. His job is mainly troubleshooting and solving some other problems.

Eberhard left the company in 2007. Since then, his initial role at Tesla has been a point of contention between him and Musk. Musk said Eberhard’s departure was related to delays in the production of the Tesla Roadster, as well as other operational issues.

“This is not a matter of personality differences because the decision to have Eberhard move into an advisory role was unanimously agreed upon by the board. Tesla has operational issues that need to be addressed and if the board does management thinks that there’s any way that Eberhard can be part of the solution, he will still be an employee of the company ,” Musk said at the time.

Eberhard sued Musk in 2009 for defamation. The case was settled that year. From here on, Musk calls Eberhard “the worst person” he has ever worked with.

Last year, Musk criticized that Eberhard “could risk his own money but would rather not,” alluding to investing more in Tesla. At the time, Eberhard called Musk’s comments untrue.

At Volkswagen, Eberhard served as head of electric vehicle development until 2011. He called the experience “extremely educational”. He then went on to work briefly with other startups, including Lucid Motors. In addition, he also launched two electric vehicle battery startups, Inevit and Tiveni. Eberhard told Business Insider that he still owns a “small stake” in Tesla.

Today, Eberhard calls himself a “retired entrepreneur” and “an occasional visionary”. He still meets with Tarpenning on a weekly basis to discuss ideas – a habit the two have maintained for the past 35 years. The two entrepreneurs also run a small investment company together.

Source: BI