Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that no colleagues from Tesla signed off on last week's tweet about his plan to take the electric car company private prior to the tweet’s posting, per a New York Times report published on Thursday.
Musk wrote the controversial tweet while on his way to the airport on August 7, according to the newspaper, which conducted an hour-long interview with the Tesla CEO.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Tesla shares climbed in the wake of the posting and Musk’s comment that he had funding secured for taking Tesla private is now drawing intense scrutiny from US regulators. Musk described the tweet as an “attempt at transparency” and is attributing his claim to a series of talks held with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s US$250bn government investment fund, according to the NYT interview.
Read: Musk claims funding for Tesla going-private deal will be done with equity as Saudis eager to proceed
Another revelation from the New York Times interview is that Tesla is scouting for a number two executive or a chief operating officer to relieve Elon Musk of some of his daily responsibilities. Some Tesla board members have voiced concerns about the extent of Musk’s workload and following his tweet, the search to find an executive to take some of the pressure off of Musk has intensified.
The NYT also reported that some board members are connecting Musk’s use of the sedative Ambien to his impulsive tweeting habit. In the interview, Musk described his use of the sleep-aid to ease his stress levels. “It is often a choice of no sleep or Ambien,” he said.
Musk has been served with a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the wake of his tweets, according to published reports, which indicates that a formal regulatory investigation will follow.
READ: Tesla board goes into damage control mode as SEC ramps up Tesla investigation after Elon Musk's tweets
Securities regulators have reportedly been investigating since last year whether Tesla led investors astray about its Model 3 car production problems, according to a Wall Street Journal article, citing people familiar with the matter.
Regulators have also sent subpoenas to Tesla’s directors in a bid to find out what they knew about Musk's plan to take the company private, per the Journal.
Tesla’s board has moved to clarify Musk’s comments by saying it hasn’t received a formal outline of a plan to go private from Musk and hasn’t reached a conclusion about whether going private would be achievable for the car maker.
Contact Ellen Kelleher at ellen@proactiveinvestors.com