Tesla Investors Complain That Elon Musk Is Spending Too Much Time on Twitter — On Twitter

As Tesla's stock falls, there are increasing calls for Musk to return to his duties as CEO or pass the baton.

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By Jonathan Small

This has not been a stellar week for Tesla.

Shares are down nearly 13%, and yesterday company CEO Elon Musk disclosed that he sold 22 million shares of his Tesla stock, amounting to $3.6 billion.

Related: Elon Musk Isn't the World's Richest Person Anymore — Here's Who Stole His Title

Some Tesla investors have begun to blame Musk's lack of focus for the company's decline. They say he's been too distracted by Twitter, which he bought in October for $44 billion, noting that he's spent the last several weeks working from the company's San Francisco office, hosting audio chats, and engaging in too much public discourse about Twitter's new features and policies.

Perhaps ironically, many of these frustrated investors have turned to Twitter itself to vent their anger.

"I expect the Tesla Board to ramp up pressure on Elon to find a talented, driven 24/7 media exec to run Twitter so Elon Musk can refocus all his energies on running Tesla," tweeted Tesla investor Gary Black, who is Managing Partner, The Future Fund LLC.

Twitter investor Ross Gerber, the co-founder of Investment Advisor, agreed, tweeting that Tesla's fortunes would turn around if the company found an interim CEO.

In a letter to Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm and senior director of investor relations Martin Viecha, Nancy Levine asked: "What, if anything, is the Tesla board of directors doing to protect shareholders from the damages inflicted by Mr. Musk's Twitter activity?"

The letter was posted on Twitter, naturally.

But not all investors are concerned about Musk's latest actions.

Tesla investor Galileo Russell told The Washington Post that although he thinks Musk has gotten a little too political lately, he still supports him.

"I hold all my Tesla shares and continue to believe Elon is the best CEO on the planet and best person to run Tesla," he said.

Musk himself has told investors not to worry— albeit through Twitter.

"I will make sure Tesla shareholders benefit from Twitter long-term," he tweeted earlier this week.

Jonathan Small

Entrepreneur Staff

Editor in Chief of Green Entrepreneur

Jonathan Small is editor-in-chief of Green Entrepreneur, a vertical from Entrepreneur Media focused on the intersection of sustainability and business. He is also an award-winning journalist, producer, and podcast host of the upcoming True Crime series, Dirty Money, and Write About Now podcasts. Jonathan is the founder of Strike Fire Productions, a premium podcast production company. He had held editing positions at Glamour, Stuff, Fitness, and Twist Magazines. His stories have appeared in The New York Times, TV Guide, Cosmo, Details, and Good Housekeeping. Previously, Jonathan served as VP of Content for the GSN (the Game Show Network), where he produced original digital video series.

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