Elon Musk removed as Tesla chairman, will remain as CEO

Elon Musk has resigned his position as Tesla chairman after being charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission over a series of Tweets suggesting he might take the automotive company private.

In settling the fraud case, Musk retains his CEO position, and will still run the company, but Tesla will now appoint a new chairman, has agreed to monitoring of Musk’s future communications, and will pay a sizeable US$20m fine.

It’s considered by many to be a bullet dodged by Musk, with the SEC having lodged a case aimed at removing him as CEO, and banning him from running any other publicly listed company.

The action stemmed from a Musk Tweet in August, in which he said he had secured the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. The announcement sparked an increase in Tesla’s share price before Musk announced the company would be staying public. A subsequent investigation found Musk's Tweets were "false and misleading statements".

The SEC move comes at the end of a turbulent time for the embattled car executive, who has been under fire for verbally attacking a Thai-based rescue diver, and for appearing to smoke marijuana on a popular podcast, all while his company struggles to maintain production targets and continues to search for profitability.

But none of it has dampened Musk’s enthusiasm, who (according to the New York Times) followed the SEC decision with an excited email to staff.

“One more day of going super hardcore and victory is ours!!” he said. “We are very close to achieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong, but, to be certain, we must execute really well tomorrow. If we go all out tomorrow, we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations. Go Tesla!!!”

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