The lesson for Elon Musk? Do not rely on fan club directors | Nils Pratley | Business



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E lon Musk came to his senses and apologized for his ugly and baselessness against a British cave explorer who played a key role in the rescue in Thailand. The founder of Tesla could not resist a last digression to Vernon Unsworth – he said that the diver had said "several lies and suggested that I engage in a badual act with the mini [submarine] "- but Musk acknowledged that he had no one to blame but himself. "The fault lies with me and me alone," he said in a tweet

Curiously, Musk also apologized to the "companies I represent as a leader", which was a confession rare. Think of it as a nod to investors in the electric car company who asked for an apology.

Yet there is a wider story here. The insult of Musk at Unsworth has been unique in being slanderous but in recent months he has taken oscillations from Wall Street badysts, the press and short sellers and even objected to being called a billionaire (a term denigrating, apparently). It appears as absurdly spicy. Or, as Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, a US venture capital firm, said in an "open letter" to Musk this week: "Your behavior feeds a useless perception of your direction – thin-skinned and angry." [19659003] Few founders of big tech companies have been models of charm and affability, one could argue. Bust-ups tend to come with the territory. But you can not blame investors for worrying that Musk's reputation for breathtaking self-esteem will rub off on the Tesla brand. At Uber, the antics of Travis Kalanick have delayed the progress of the taxi business by annoying too many people, including regulators. It would be a shame if Tesla, a really helpful company, was driving a similar road.

Musk should take a break from Twitter, said Munster. Good idea. He would also benefit from having independent minds in Tesla's conference room to remind him that he has investors and employees. The board of directors includes Musk's brother and two investors in SpaceX, the Musk space company. The configuration seems too comfortable.

The UK, no doubt, has the opposite problem of chained founders. We could be better at creating 21st century technology companies if more pioneers were licensed by Musk to pursue long-term bets. But the point remains: Tesla investors deserve advice that is ready to tell the boss when to shut up and focus on daytime work.

Premier Foods Cake Fight ends with a draw – 1965-19009 to win the cake fight at Premier Foods. The rebel activist Oasis Management pursued the district's rotten tactics of borrowing shares to inflate its voting power. The Premier 's board of directors has never explained why Chief Executive Officer Gavin Darby is so generously rewarded for a half – cooked stock price performance.

So the result feels about right. Darby survived in his post, which was the best pragmatic result, but his 59:41 majority was thin enough to kick his back.

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President Keith Hamill seems to have understood that the Prime Minister must act faster. He is now talking about identifying "other strategic opportunities to accelerate the recovery of the company." Translated by the management-speak, this can mean a flogging of one or two marks to pay off the debt and reduce the pension liabilities, which was one of the ideas of Oasis.

All sales must still arrive at the right price, argument. That's enough. There is no point selling the family's money – if the Batchelor soup can be described as such – unless you get the best price. But at least, the board is now on the hot seat to explain just how much it has tried and how does financial arithmetic work. This is a modest advance.

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