Tesla Inc.
TSLA 1.30%
said Chief Executive Elon Musk changed his title at the company to “Technoking of Tesla”, extending an irreverent trend in leading the 49-year-old electric vehicle manufacturer.
The company also said that Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn will have the title of “Currency Master”. Both Musk and Kirkhorn will retain their respective positions as CEO and chief financial officer, according to a regulatory document sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The company did not explain the meaning of the bonds and did not respond to a query. Kirkhorn’s new title may echo Tesla’s ambitions around cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, Tesla said it had invested $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin and that it plans to start accepting bitcoin as payment from car buyers.
Over the weekend, bitcoin surpassed $ 60,000 for the first time on Saturday before falling. A steady stream of institutional demand has been credited with driving much of the bitcoin rally since the beginning of 2020, when it traded close to $ 7,000.
Elon Musk’s optimism and affinity for grandiose claims that may have undermined his credibility may now have helped propel him to become the second richest person in the world. WSJ takes a look at how he managed to succeed in the midst of the pandemic. Photo: Britta Pedersen / Zuma Press (11/12/20 video)
Other companies have also adopted bitcoin in recent months. Square Inc., which shares bitcoin defender Jack Dorsey as its CEO with Twitter Inc.,
TWTR 2.04%
acquired about $ 50 million for its corporate treasury in October. Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
BK -0.90%
said it would start treating bitcoin like any other financial asset, and Mastercard Inc.
BAD -0.43%
said it will integrate bitcoin into its payment network this year.
Most positions for corporate leaders follow a narrow range of variations, but some Silicon Valley companies have used fanciful language to describe the roles of workers. For years, some companies have used terms like “guru”, “jedi” or “ninja” to color job descriptions that involve experience or mental alertness. Other colorful titles that have emerged include director of happiness, chief futurist and chief digital evangelist.
Tesla released the title changes amid signs of a more bumpy road ahead than in 2020. Rivals are showing the first signs of reducing their market leadership in electric vehicle sales. The company briefly ended part of its car production at its only plant in the United States last month due to a shortage of parts. Tesla also said it expects lower production of Model S sedans and Model X sport utility vehicles this quarter, as it presents updated versions of the vehicles, although it is increasing production of its compact Model Y sport utility vehicle in China.
Tesla’s shares rose more than 700% last year, then fell more than 25% earlier this month and little changed during the year. The company last year set a record for car deliveries, recorded its first full year of profit and earned a spot on the S&P 500 index.
Musk’s new title may aim to reflect Tesla’s view that it is a source of long-term technological disruption, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a research memo, pointing to the company’s autonomous management work. and its advances in battery technology.
Mr. Musk’s role as Tesla’s public face did not stop him from making daring provocations. Breaking the mold of CEOs of large companies who make carefully formulated public statements, Musk often posts messages on Twitter with relaxed thoughts on subjects ranging from Tesla’s stock price to sci-fi topics and online memes.
Tweeting left Musk in trouble with regulators. In 2018, he announced on Twitter that he was considering plans to make the automaker private, a statement later found to be misleading by the SEC after it became clear that he had no finalized funding for such a move.
He denied any wrongdoing, but ended up signing a deal that included giving up his position as Tesla’s president and agreeing to have any of his Twitter messages related to the automaker’s business before publishing them.
Mr. Musk’s shareholding in the company helped him overcome Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN -1.27%
founder Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world this year.
In addition, Tesla on Monday named Jerome Guillen, who ran the company’s automotive business, as its president of Heavy Trucks. He oversaw the truck design in a previous role and, before joining Tesla in 2010, worked on trucks at Daimler AG
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The appointment occurs at a time when the automaker increases activities around its delayed semi-trailer truck.
Tesla over the weekend tweeted a video of the electric taxi driving on a test track. Musk said the supply of sufficient batteries has prevented the truck. “If we were going to do the Semi as now, we could easily go into production with the Semi, but we wouldn’t have enough cells for that now,” said Musk at the company’s last earnings conference call in January.
Write to Matt Grossman at [email protected]
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