Ross Gerber, a vocal Tesla Inc. shareholder, said he will pursue a board seat at the electric-vehicle maker, with a goal of reining in Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.
Gerber, co-founder and chief executive of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, confirmed his intentions during a Twitter Spaces audio conference Bloomberg hosted Friday. He said he’s formally announcing his plans next week.
“I think it is crucially important to take criticism and this is something that I have realized over the years with Elon, you know, he’s very thin skinned,” Gerber said. “I’ve kind of had enough.”
Musk and Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gerber did not say how he intended to secure the board seat. He said he had close relationships with some of Tesla’s biggest institutional investors including Ark Investment Management LLC (0.15 percent) and Baillie Gifford & Co. (0.85 percent), but did not say if they specifically supported his board run.
Gerber’s firm held around 440,000 Tesla shares, or 0.01 percent of the company, as of Dec. 31, according to data Bloomberg compiled.
In a message to Bloomberg News, Gerber said he had a pledge from Leo KoGuan, among the largest individual Tesla investors.
KoGuan has previously criticized Musk’s management of Tesla and has said the “board is missing in action.”
Ark Investment Management and Baillie Gifford & Co. did not respond to requests for comment. KoGuan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Gerber, based in Santa Monica, California, also holds Tesla stock as an individual or retail investor. He said he’s working with thousands of Tesla shareholders overall and is also talking to Tesla owners to get a sense of how Musk is regarded.
“Tesla needs to build its image around Tesla, and not just around Elon,” he said on the Spaces call, adding: “I think it’s time for Tesla to grow up.”
He said he plans to be a “friendly activist” on the board and was also coordinating with other retail and institutional investors.
During the call, Gerber outlined a few plans he had for Austin, Texas-based Tesla if elected to the board. Nearly all had to do with Musk.
He said he would want to address what he perceived as a conflict of interest for Musk as CEO at other companies, particularly Twitter, and particularly raised concerns about his compensation and time spent at Tesla versus competing duties as Twitter’s chief executive. Gerber said he would also want to work on a succession plan.
He also said he would push for greater clarity on insider stock sales to avoid large tranches of stock being sold in the open market without shareholders understanding why.
The biography for Gerber on his firm’s website does not list any other board positions on publicly traded companies.
