Daily Management Review

Larry Ellison Joins Tesla’s Board


12/29/2018


The step to take Ellison on board at Tesla has garnered mixed reactions.



On Friday, 28 December 2018, Tesla Inc. made Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corp, a board member of the company. Ellison is a shareholder of Tesla while being a “self-described close friend” of Elon Musk, the C.E.O of Tesla. The said step has been taken to fulfil the demand of “independent oversight” made by the regulators in the U.S. following Musk’s tweet of taking the company private.
 
Following the above mentioned tweet, the “U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission” filed “fraud charges” against the chief executive, while some investors called for “stronger board oversight of Musk”. With the Ellison on board, Tesla has secured “one of the world’s richest people with experience building a startup into a successful company”.
 
Ellison’s work experience include the post of Apple’s Director at a time when Steve Jobs returned on board to manoeuvre the struggling company and led it to “one the greatest turnarounds in corporate history”. Ellison’s embarking on Tesla’s board was effective from December 27, 2018, while he was joined by Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, “Walgreens Boots Alliance’s global head of human resources”.
 
However, the Director of the Corporate Governance Centre the “University of Delaware”, Charles Elson questioned the decision of adding a friend of Musk as well as “another director” to the board who does not possess any prior industrial company experience. While Elson added:
“Why would you put a friend (on the board) if the idea of the two independent directors were to be objective. Investors who were hoping for two newly objective directors who could stand up to Mr. Musk would be rather disappointed by the choice.”
 
SEC was not available for comment while, the former chairman of the agency, Harvey Pitt, regards the inclusion of Ellison as a “positive step”. In Pitt’s words:
“His personal investment in Tesla stock — said to be his largest personal investment outside of Oracle — means he will be focused on ensuring that Tesla develops profitable strategies. He also has the stature to stand up to Mr. Musk, should that become necessary.”
 
On the day of the said announcement, Tesla’s shares went up to “5.6 percent” and closed at “$333.87”.
 
 
References:
reuters.com