New York (CNN) A group of progressive Tesla shareholders wants the company’s board of directors to get CEO Elon Musk to focus more on one of his many jobs, running the EV automaker.
In a letter to Tesla’s board of directors, the group said Musk is not spending enough time and attention focused on the issues facing the company, including increasing EV competition from other automakers, and addressing issues important to the group, including allegations of Toxic work environment in tesla.
In addition to his role in Tesla (TSLA)Musk also leads Twitter, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, among others.
“Each of us initially added Tesla to our portfolios because we saw Tesla as a true leader in producing products and services essential to our transition to a sustainable and green economy,” the letter read. “Over time, our interest in corporate governance and leadership issues has grown.”
Among the entities signatories to the letter are Amalgamated Bank, a bank owned by the Federation, as well as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, United Church Funds, Investor Advocates for Social Justice and the New York City Controller Office. The letter says the investors who signed the letter own $1.5 billion worth of Tesla stock, which is far less than 1% of Tesla stock.
By comparison, Musk owns or has options to buy $118 billion worth of Tesla stock, which is 20% of the stock. Musk has a net worth of $175 billion, according to Forbes.
The letter claims Musk’s lack of focus at Tesla is causing problems for the company, such as high employee turnover due to the work environment. But it does not explain what needs to be done to get him to focus on those problems.
“Tesla needs a board of directors that will ensure the CEO is focused on meeting its challenges,” the letter read. “Because the Board failed to constrain the CEO’s external obligations and ensure that he focused on solving the many challenges the company faces, we have lost confidence in its members.”
Evan Frischberg, chief sustainability officer at Amalgamated Bank, said there are other investors concerned about Musk being distracted, especially with Recent purchase from Twitteras well as his ownership and Run SpaceX and a number of other companies.
Frishberg said the group is not advocating for Musk to be replaced as CEO.
“We are an investor in Tesla,” he said. “In terms of governance, we would like the boardroom to become less club-like and more independent and responsive to investors.”
Musk now basically Working for Tesla is freewithout a cash salary, and after being granted a final set of stock options from the 2018 pay package earlier this year, there are no additional stock options he can qualify for at this time.
Some analysts have said they expect, and will claim, that Tesla announces a new salary package for Musk as a way to reassure Wall Street that Tesla remains his priority, despite the CEO’s other jobs. But Frishberg objected to this idea.
“I don’t think throwing more money at the guy is the answer,” he said.
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