The board of members for Tesla recently found itself the target of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as she attempted to browbeat the group over the recent purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk and how it could create conflicts of interest for the well-known electric automaker.
Recently, Musk purchased the social media titan for a hefty sum of $44 billion in a deal that was finalized after a few months of battling in courts concerning the number of real accounts active on the platform. Among other challenges posed to the company has been the extreme leftist’s anger concerning the claims from the billionaire concerning his goal to prioritize freedom of speech and publicize the extreme and far-reaching censorship executed by the former owners.
Warren exclaimed to Robyn Denholm, that Tesla Chair, via a letter that the board now has the express responsibility to make sure that Musk “fulfills his legal obligation to act in the best interests of Tesla and all of its shareholders, not just himself,” along with making sure to guarantee that he “does not treat the company as a private plaything.” She issued questions about the specific oversight measures that board members have spawned in order to find out if Musk was spending enough time leading the automaker.
“Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and his simultaneous management of both Twitter and Tesla raise significant legal questions about conflicts of interest, compliance with labor laws, and misappropriation of corporate resources,” she explained.
The legislator, who has previously been at odds with Musk about his supposed failure to pay a fair amount of taxes, made reference of his reported use of Tesla engineers to take control of the code from the social media company directly in the wake of the acquisition. Though Musk has stated that the employees volunteered to assist him in the taking over of the platform, Warren highlighted an anonymous report making the claim that “most would also feel it was impossible to turn down a direct request from Musk without later facing poor performance reviews or other consequences.” Warren also claimed that the use of employees from Tesla at his newest acquisition could stand in violation of Musk’s stated legal “duty of loyalty to Tesla” and “trigger questions” regarding the necessity of the board to prevent such things from taking place.
In response, Musk has commented that he still watches over both SpaceX and Tesla, at which he says the teams “are so good that often little is needed” from him. The famous businessman stated in court this past month that he has no desire to be a chief executive “of any company.”
The central point of Warren’s argument was that Twitter had the power to artificially suppress the advertising for Chevrolet, Ford, Audi, and other automakers that compete with Tesla.
“Musk and Tesla are inextricably intertwined, and while this close relationship has benefited the company in the past, recent developments may have brought a series of negatives to the forefront,” concluded Warren.
