I sold all my Tesla shares (TSLA), here's why

I too divested. One concern I think about constantly these days is that the Tesla we supposedly own is vulnerable to the whims of the CEO. I worry that software updates pushed to my car to satisfy a man (who has absolute control) might not be responsibly thought out and could pose real risks to me and my family. While this might be an overblown concern, it is a real one. He believes he is responsible to no one but himself.

Tangent: Is this blogger (Lambert) stilled contractually owed a next-gen Tesla Roadster, as his affiliate reward for his lifetime number of Tesla purchase referrals? Or has that fallen apart in some way? He was a pro-Tesla superfan turned Tesla-skeptic blogger-journalist—I imagine he&#x27;s near the top of that Tesla CEO&#x27;s blacklist now, and I&#x27;m <i>really</i> curious how the extreme personal animosity intersects with (what I understand to have been) contractual obligations on Tesla&#x27;s part.<p>I haven&#x27;t followed this story in years.

I divested too, last May. I was really hoping there would be a &quot;Fire Elon&quot; movement to save the company and all the heroes that made it such a success. Nobody else in the world could get away with keeping their job while basically:<p>- Not showing up for work - Working several other jobs simultaneously - Rigging their pay through scandalous board manipulation (embezzlement) - Alienating the core set of customers - Threatening to move future innovations to competing companies<p>I love my two cars, and I&#x27;m sad for state of the company. They should fire Elon, then file suit to take back what he stole.

From the author&#x27;s point of view, one of the key issues is that Musk unilaterally terminated all employees&#x27; stock options, but spent tens of millions of dollars of shareholder money to argue that he (and he alone) should be given tens of billions worth of stock options despite his unilateral value destruction and multiple breaches of his fiduciary duties to the other shareholders.

Imo, it&#x27;s going to get bad for Tesla in the next 5-7 years - Tesla doesn&#x27;t own the underlying battery IP by leveraging Panasonic who also sells to domestic and international competitors, will lose charging as a differentiating factor now that the charging team was canned and Cheveron and Shell Ventures are entering the fray, and doesn&#x27;t have a pipeline of heavy trucks just when Daimler entered the fray.<p>Self driving (Deepscale) might be their only differentiating factor, but even then that market would get commoditized within a decade just like EVs, and both GM (Cruise) and Alphabet (Waymo) could be first-to-market in the US.<p>In addition, a lot of Tesla alums have left for EV competitors or future competitors in the US, Europe, and Asia due to compensation shenanigans as mentioned in the article.

Why is this flagged? I thought the topic was relevant, especially about how compensation may influence a company&#x27;s culture and performance.

Memelord Mc. Musk&#x27;s downfall.

&quot;Forgot to say one thing at Tesla annual shareholders meeting: just as my money was the first in, it will be the last out.&quot;<p>- Impulsive Child, CEO and Visionary, Elon Musk (2013)