Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson Added to Tesla’s Board After Settlement with SEC
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Some significant changes took place at Tesla in the past few days as the company had to comply with the SEC settlements. Two new board members – Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson – have been named by the company as a result.
To anyone intimate enough with the world of business management, these names should sound quite familiar. Larry Ellison has been a co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle. Ellison has also just recently disclosed that he has had a significant stake with the company. According to the company spokesperson, he has acquired $3 million worth of shares.
Alongside Ellison, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson is a former executive of Kellogg. She currently works at Walgreens Boots Alliance as its global head of human resources.
Both Wilson-Thompson and Ellison were appointed to the board to bring their expertise to the table. In the case of Ellison, his personal stake in the company and his acquaintance with Tesla CEO Elon Musk have also served as a motivator. He was quoted saying, “I am very close friends to Elon Musk and I am a very big investor in Tesla.”
These appointments were made in response to the settlements for the SEC suit, which alleged that Musk revealed misleading information about the company. It was argued that Elon Musk’s tweet joking about taking the company private for $420 per share was not in good taste. Musk along with Tesla agreed to these new hires as far back as September.
With CEO Elon Musk acting as the figurehead of the company, Tesla has been at the mercy of his image. As a result, the CEO’s unsupervised use of social media for personal antics has led to damaging effects on the company’s stock prices.
It’s no secret that Elon Musk has been seen as the sole representative of the company. Musk’s use of social media to partake in mischief is news to no one. However, it seems Tesla is finally catching up to his frivolity and may finally step in to prevent future damage.
With the new hires, it is hoped that some major insight can be added to the company’s board. In addition to this, Tesla is expected to adhere to other SEC conditions like appointing a committee to control statements made by the company and Musk on social media.