Tesla chief executive Elon Musk will step down as chairman of the electric-car maker company he founded, 48 hours after the Securities and Exchange Commission threatened to throw Tesla into unprecedented chaos, The Washington Post reported.
The SEC hit Musk with a lawsuit on Thursday for allegedly lying to investors when he announced via Twitter that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. The SEC was seeking to ban the billionaire from serving as chief executive of any public company for the transgression.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
As part of the settlement, Musk will also pay a $20 million fine, while Tesla will separately pay another $20 million. The company also agreed to add two new independent directors to its board and will monitor more closely Musk’s public communications on the social media platform and in interviews — which have been the source of many scandals that have roiled the company this year.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
