Tesla Inc.
TSLA 1.08%
Chief Executive Elon Musk has changed his title with the company to “Technoking of Tesla,” extending an irreverent streak in the leadership of the electric vehicle manufacturer’s 49-year-old.
The company also said Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn will hold the title of “Master of Coin”. Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Kirkhorn will maintain their respective positions as CEO and Chief Financial Officer, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The company did not explain the meaning of the titles or respond to a question. Mr Kirkhorn’s new title could reflect echoes of Tesla’s cryptocurrency ambitions. Earlier this year, Tesla said it had invested $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin and plans to start accepting bitcoin as payment from car buyers.
Over the weekend, bitcoin first surpassed $ 60,000 on Saturday, before falling back. A steady stream of institutional demand has been attributed to much of the bitcoin rally since the beginning of 2020 when it traded near USD 7,000.
Elon Musk’s optimism and affinity for grandiose claims that once undermined his credibility may now have helped him become the second richest person in the world. WSJ looks at how he succeeded in the midst of the pandemic. Photo: Britta Pedersen / Zuma Press (video from 11/12/20)
Other companies have also embraced bitcoin in recent months. Square Inc., which shares bitcoin attorney Jack Dorsey as CEO with Twitter Inc.,
TWTR 1.90%
acquired approximately $ 50 million for its corporate treasury in October. Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
BK -0.81%
said it would start treating bitcoin like any other financial asset, and Mastercard Inc.
MA -0.28%
said it would integrate bitcoin into its payment network this year.
Most corporate executive job titles conform to a limited number of variations, but some Silicon Valley companies have previously used imaginative language to describe employee roles. For years, some companies have used terms like “guru”, “jedi” or “ninja” to color job descriptions that involve expertise or mental agility. Other colorful titles to appear include Chief Happiness Officer, Chief Futurist, and Chief Digital Evangelist.
Tesla announced the title changes amid signs of a bumpier road ahead than in 2020. Rivals are showing early signs that they are eating up its lead in market share in electric vehicle sales. The company briefly shut down some of its car production at its only US factory last month due to a shortage of parts. Tesla has also said it expects lower production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV this quarter as it introduces updated versions of the vehicles, although it is increasing the output of its Model Y compact SUV in China.
Shares in Tesla were up more than 700% last year, then fell more than 25% earlier this month and have changed little for the year. Last year, the company achieved record car deliveries, posted its first full year of profit and landed a spot on the S&P 500 index.
Mr. Musk’s new title could be intended to reflect Tesla’s view that it is a source of technological disruption in the long run, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a research memo, noting the company’s autonomous driving work and the advances in battery technology.
Mr. Musk’s role as Tesla’s public face hasn’t stopped him from provoking brutal provocations. Mr. Musk breaks the mold of the CEOs of major companies making carefully worded public statements, often posting Twitter posts with free thoughts on topics ranging from Tesla’s stock quote to science fiction topics and online memes.
Tweeting has gotten Mr. Musk into trouble with regulators. In 2018, he announced on Twitter that he was considering plans to take the carmaker private, a claim later deemed misleading by the SEC after it became clear he had no funding for such a move.
He denied wrongdoing, but eventually came to an agreement whereby he gave up his position as chairman of Tesla and agreed to have all his Twitter posts related to the automaker’s company reviewed before they were published.
Mr. Musk’s ownership interest in the company helped him surpass Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN -1.43%
founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man this year.
Tesla also named Jerome Guillen, who led the company’s auto company, as president of Heavy Trucking on Monday. He oversaw the truck project in a previous role and before joining Tesla in 2010 worked on trucks at Daimler AG
The deal comes when the carmaker ramps up activity around its delayed trailer.
Tesla tweeted a video of driving an electric cab on a test track last weekend. Mr. Musk has said that the supply of enough batteries is holding back the truck. “If we were to make the Semi-like now, which we could easily put into production along with the Semi, but we wouldn’t have enough cells for it now,” Musk said during the company’s latest earnings call in January.
Write to Matt Grossman at [email protected]
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