Elon Musk seems to be everywhere these days, just not in the place he’s most needed: at the helm of his flailing electric vehicle company.
Tesla is one of the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 so far this year. Sales are falling around the globe. The US resale market is crumbling. Tesla’s militaristic Cybertruck is under a recall order because of an exterior panel that can fall off the vehicle while driving. The company was abruptly booted from this week’s Vancouver International Auto Show over unspecified safety concerns. And according to an analysis by the Financial Times, there’s about $1.4 billion that just sort of disappeared from the company’s balance sheet.
That’s to say nothing of the company’s brand identity. Tesla was once a badge of pride for upwardly mobile, environmentally conscious lefties. More recently, it has become a talisman of an increasingly authoritarian right wing.
Investors — even Tesla’s staunchest supporters — are rapidly losing patience.
On Thursday, Wall Street’s No. 1 Tesla bull pleaded with Musk and Tesla’s board to “stop being silent” and fix their mess.
“Let’s call it like is: Tesla is going through a crisis and there is one person who can fix it … Musk,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives in a note to clients. “Tesla is Musk, and Musk is Tesla. They are synonymous and cannot be separated.”
But where is the boss?
“Musk is spending 110% of his time with DOGE (and not as Tesla’s CEO),” Ives said.
Another major investor, Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday that “there isn’t more that Elon could do to turn off customers” and that it’s time for the board to find a new CEO.
