Another day in Tesla: leaders leave, Musk invites controversy

Another departure of leaders, another controversy over the behavior of the CEO, another decline in stocks.

Another typical day in Tesla.

Although the details change, the pattern remains the same. This time, David Morton, head of accounting at Tesla Inc., left after a month of work. The controversy is over Elon Musk taking a shot at an apparent marijuana-tobacco joint during a podcast interview that went around on YouTube. And the stock fell more than 6% Friday to close at $ 263.24 per share – its lowest level since March of last year.

All this comes from the fact that the automaker continues to struggle to convert from a losing shop to a profit machine. This is being done under investigation by the government and in the face of shareholder lawsuits after Musk revealed a plan to privatize the company on Twitter, thus raising the price of the stock. The estimated $ 24 billion plan was eventually abandoned and the stock dropped.

Tesla has only a few weeks left to live up to Musk's promise to release strong earnings starting in the third quarter after losing more than $ 700 million in the second quarter. Moody's Investor Service downgraded the company's debt to unwanted territory in March, warning that Tesla would not have liquidity to cover the $ 3.7 billion related to normal operations, capital expenditures and debt early next year. Tesla said that the money generated by the production of more than 3 model 3 electric cars will pay the bills and generate profits.

In the midst of increasing pressure, Musk must now pull himself out of a new controversy on his own. About two hours after the launch of the video of "The Joe Rogan Experience" on YouTube, the CEO accepts a sip of whiskey and a draw proposed by Rogan, a comedian and podcast host, who points out that the pot is legal . in California.

Shortly after smoking, Musk – dressed in a black T-shirt that says "Occupy Mars" – looks at his phone and laughs, telling Rogan that he is receiving text from friends asking why he smokes grass during the interview. Later, Musk says that he does not notice any effect of articulation.

"I do not smoke the weed regularly," he says. When Rogan asks how often he smokes, Musk replies, "Almost never." He knows a lot of people like weeds, but "I do not find that it's very good for productivity," he tells Rogan.

In addition, the company announced in a regulatory filing the departure of Morton, cited by Tesla as resigning because of the level of public scrutiny and the pace of the company, but not disagreements with the management of Tesla or its financial reports . That followed a report released Friday by Bloomberg, according to which Gabrielle Toledano, head of human resources, would not return to Tesla after a leave. And the director of communications, Sarah O. Brien, confirmed to the Associated Press that her last day of work was Wednesday. She would not give a reason for leaving, which she says has been in preparation for two months.

Last Friday, replacements were named for Toledano and O & # 39; Brien, and Musk also promoted Vice President Jerome Guillen to the position of President for Automotive, overseeing all automotive operations, including the supply chain in pieces. He will report directly to Musk, said the CEO in a note to employees.

Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communications at Dartmouth College, said the latest controversy is not surprising.

"The behavior on YouTube is obviously consistent with what we have seen in the past," he said. But he added, "You can not go on like this forever, he's catching up with you."

Musk's conduct has been questionable since the first quarter earnings conference call, when he criticized Wall Street analysts for asking questions about the company's financial situation. Then, he called a British diver who had helped save Thai football players and a pedophile, and after apologizing, he doubled his charge this week in emails to Buzzfeed News.

But the most questionable action occurred when Musk tweeted on Aug. 7 that he had secured funding to take the private company to $ 420 per share to get away from the short-term pressure of Wall Street. Tweets boosted the share price of electric vehicle and solar panel manufacturers by 11% that day. But he then fell when Musk revealed that the funding was not stalled.

On August 24, Musk issued a statement in which he stated that the privatization deal had been canceled, which attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some analysts and investors have asked the board to replace Musk as CEO, but to retain him as a product manager or hire an operations manager to handle day-to-day operations. The posts were left Friday with board members, including senior director Antonio Gracias.