Prominent Tesla Inc TSLA investor and investment advisor Ross Gerber announced Friday he plans to run for a seat on the automaker's board of directors. Here’s the latest.
What Happened: Tesla shareholder Gerber has been a strong supporter of the growth of electric vehicles and Tesla over the years. Recently, Gerber has been more vocal about changes he believes the company should make.
On Friday, Gerber said he plans on running for a seat on the Tesla board.
“I’ve kind of had enough,” Gerber said during a Twitter Spaces on Friday.
Gerber said he has the support of large Tesla shareholders and strong relationships with many of Tesla’s largest institutional investors. Gerber did not say if Ark Invest and Baillie Gifford supported his run for the board, but told Bloomberg he has support from Leo KoGuan, who is one of the largest individual Tesla investors.
“Tesla needs to build its image around Tesla, and not just around Elon. I think it’s time for Tesla to grow up.”
Gerber added that he plans on being a “friendly activist” investor with Tesla and coordinating with other retail traders and institutional investors.
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Why It’s Important: Gerber has been critical of Tesla in the areas of public relations, a succession plan for CEO Elon Musk and customer service.
Musk being the CEO of other companies could be a conflict of interest given the compensation and time commitments involved, Gerber said.
Gerber also said he would push for more clarity on insider stock sales to avoid large portions being sold on the open market without investors knowing why, a criticism that could be aimed at Musk and his past sales.
Another area Gerber could target is marketing. He shared a tweet Friday with a video highlighting a Tesla vehicle getting a response of “Another wonderful Tesla video … wish we had this playing in the Super Bowl.”
On Twitter, Gerber told one user he was “Doing this for all of us retail shareholders” and added that it was “time we all had a voice.”
Bloomberg reports that Gerber’s firm owns around 440,000 Tesla shares, representing around 0.01% of the company.
Tesla is the largest holding in the AdvisorShares Gerber Kawasaki ETF GK, representing $1.7 million in assets and a 10% weighting of the fund.
TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares are down 5% to $196.31 on Friday.
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
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