Much ado has been made about Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO and former Chairman Elon Musk of late. The company's CEO has been forced to resign as the firm's chairman over remarks made over Twitter about a potential privatization of the company, among other Tweets which many in the investing community have viewed as problematic for the $60 billion auto manufacturer.
As part of an agreement reached with the SEC over aforementioned Tweets, the board of Tesla has chosen Robyn Denholm to replace Musk as board chair. Denholm currently serves as CFO and head of strategy at Australian company Telstra Corp. and will be joining Tesla mid-2019 following a six-month notice period. While Denholm is an independent director, many have noted that she has also been on team Musk for some time, raising questions as to the future impartiality of the company's new chair and what behaviors are likely to change in the long-run for the EV company.
It has been, and continues to be, my view that Tesla and all of Elon Musk's companies are subject to a "Musk premium." The extent to which the share price of Tesla and Musk's other ventures are driven by his direct involvement in said companies is undoubtedly significant. In that regard, the ability of any new chairperson to change behavior at the CEO level is likely to remain muted.
I would expect to see much of the same moving forward, and will continue to follow Tesla closely in the quarters and years to come, paying particularly close attention to the company's upcoming bond payments due in the near term.
Invest wisely, my friends.
