Some Tesla Inc. board members felt pressured to take medication with Chief Executive Elon Musk for threat of upsetting him if they didn’t partake, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
In a report following up on a January article that detailed Musk’s alleged use of unlawful medication and executives’ and board members’ considerations for the well being of Musk and his corporations, the Journal on Sunday detailed the deep private and monetary ties that bind Tesla administrators to the corporate and to Musk, together with events, holidays and huge investments in every others’ corporations.
According to the Journal, most of Tesla’s administrators have earned inventory choices value tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} throughout their phrases, considerably greater than board members at different corporations. The report cited consultants in company governance who mentioned such shut ties may intrude with administrators’ independence.
The report additionally mentioned some present and former board members at Tesla
TSLA,
and SpaceX have direct information of Musk’s drug use, however haven’t moved to handle it.
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According to the Journal, the quantity of Musk’s and a few board members’ drug use — which reportedly has included cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms and prescription ketamine — has turn out to be regarding.
Some of Musk’s pals and firm administrators really feel an expectation to make use of medication at events he attends, the Journal mentioned, feeling stress to not refuse since he’s made them a lot cash and out of a need to stay in his good graces.
The Journal additionally reported that in 2022, Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison — a good friend of Musk’s and a former Tesla board member — provided use of his Hawaiian island for Musk to loosen up and detox from his drug use. Around the identical time, different pals reportedly urged Musk to go to rehab.
In a sequence of tweets late Sunday, Musk mocked the report and mentioned “no one has ever mentioned rehab to me ever.”
Bboard members have taken no public actions to rein in Musk’s obvious drug use.
The lack of board pushback to Musk was delivered to the forefront final week when a Delaware chancery decide voided Musk’s $56 billion compensation bundle, ruling that the board didn’t act independently, and that Musk “enjoyed thick ties with the directors tasked with negotiating on behalf of Tesla.”
Potential drug use by Musk and board members raises quite a few purple flags that might have an effect on the businesses, together with erratic habits, doable violations of the regulation and publicity to blackmail. It may additionally violate billions of {dollars}’ value of U.S. authorities contracts with SpaceX and have an effect on safety clearances.
NASA mentioned final month it has no proof of drug use at SpaceX, in keeping with Bloomberg News, and Musk’s lawyer instructed the Journal in January that the CEO has by no means failed a drug take a look at.
Tesla, which disbanded its media relations division in 2020, didn’t reply for a request for remark Sunday. SpaceX additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark.
