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Once again, Elon Musk is in controversy. And he can test the patience of investors.
Over the weekend, the tech entrepreneur fled for tweeting an unfounded accusation that one of the cavers that helped save 12 boys from a Thai cave is a pedophile. He has since deleted the tweet.
Tesla's CEO made the comment at a precarious moment for the company, which struggled to market Model 3, its main vehicle. The bottlenecks have seriously delayed the delivery time that Musk has promised for Model 3, and Tesla may need to raise more money from investors soon to avoid a cash crunch.
Musk's comments could dissuade buyers from buying a Tesla, said Rebecca Lindland, an badyst at Kelly Blue Book . This could hurt sales and ultimately irritate investors.
"When you are looking to extend the attractiveness of your product beyond the innovators themselves, beyond the early adopters … you have to be careful," Lindland said. "You have to start acting like a CEO."
A large public company like Tesla is not only appreciated by its profits, but also by the behavior of the president and CEO, notes Lindland.
Musk "does not show the kind of discipline of someone who will make hundreds of thousands of cars," said Brian Tierney, CEO of Brian Communications.
Tierney said that someone close to Musk should tell him, "Put the phone down, let's focus."
Related: Elon Musk issues unfounded accusation against Thai cave rescuer
Musk, a Frank CEO, criticized the press and mocked badysts. But accusing someone of pedophilia "seems exaggerated even for him," said Bryan Reber, head of the department of advertising and public relations at the College of Journalism and Mbad Communication at the University of Georgia .
The spokespersons of the other companies of Tesla and Musk, SpaceX and Boring Co., did not respond to requests for comment.
The latest controversy began when caver, Vernon Unsworth, criticized Musk's attempt to help rescue the stranded boys with a "child-sized submarine." Many Musk fans admire his desire to solve complicated problems. But this quality can work against him.
"He is attracted to problem solving and yet, at the same time, he is distracted from problems that are not yet solved in his own company," Lindland said.
Related: Another problem for Tesla Model 3
Last week, one of Tesla's biggest investors called on the CEO to avoid problems.
"We believe that a period of calm and peace is needed to resolve these problems [production]," said James Anderson, partner of Tesla's fourth investor, Baillie Gifford & Co., in an interview granted at Bloomberg Television. Wednesday.
"I think it would be nice to focus on the main task," he added.
Anderson tells the Guardian that he plans to talk to Musk this week about the latest controversy. Anderson declined to comment on this story through a spokesman.
The company's shares fell 3.5% on Monday. But the small drop is probably not enough to scare investors, said Reber. "They were pretty loyal … I guess it's going to take a pretty dramatic drop," to change that.
Ronn Torossian, CEO of the public relations agency 5WPR, thinks the controversy will break out.
"He was attacked before, this is not the first time," said Musk's Torossian. "In a week, people will not remember it anymore."
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