“People don’t like Elon Musk,” AFT President Randi Weingarten told Forbes.
“We’ve taken the position over the course of the last few months of: ‘Do your job board.
Weingarten, Frerichs and Lierman said they’ve had no response from Tesla’s board from their letters.
Weingarten said AFT is weighing potential legal action against Tesla’s board, though hasn’t made a final decision on the matter.
Musk “has done huge damage to the Tesla brand and Tesla’s reputation,” she said.
According to a recent consumer sentiment survey, the majority of respondents prefer that someone else manage the EV business.
Elon Musk wore a shiner on his right eye, which he said was given to him by his toddler son X, when he made an appearance in the White House last week at a ceremony with President Donald Trump to mark the conclusion of his contentious role as the head of the federal job-slashing DOGE initiative. While the actual black eye will go away, the symbolic ones that Musk’s political actions have caused to tarnish Tesla’s and his reputation are probably going to last.
One group is largely to blame, according to some of Tesla’s largest shareholders, including unions like the American Federation of Teachers, whose 1 million members participate in pension funds that manage $4 trillion in assets, including $8.8 billion worth of Tesla shares.
Elon Musk is disliked by the public, AFT President Randi Weingarten told Forbes. We’ve adopted the stance of “Do your job board” during the past few months. Do your work in the financial sector. Perform the duties assigned to you, which include overseeing Tesla’s governance. “.”.
“Ensure his presence or find a different CEO.”.
Randi Weingarten.
The teacher’s union and Weingarten have been pressuring fiduciary officers in charge of the state and local pension funds, as well as investment companies like Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock, and T. Rowe Price and TIAA should examine their Tesla investments and put pressure on the board to alter its practices.
“If Tesla fails, many retirees will lose a lot of money in their portfolios, so we don’t want that to happen,” Weingarten stated. “Make sure Musk is there if you’re going to have him there,” she continued. Don’t allow him to participate in these extracurricular activities. Get a different CEO or make sure he’s present. “.”.
In an April letter to Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm, nine state treasurers and comptrollers expressed concerns about the potential economic consequences of the company’s failure due to inadequate board governance. No other CEO of a publicly traded company would have been permitted to disregard his daily responsibilities the way Musk has. Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, who signed the letter, stated, “There is no exception.”. “And would they have received the same treatment as him if they had engaged in private activities that seriously damaged a company’s or brand’s reputation?”.
California’s largest U.S. A. California’s public employee pension fund stated that its investments “are index-oriented and optimized using systematic and quantitative investment strategies, not driven by any single period’s events” and made no specific remarks regarding Tesla. However, in the third quarter of 2024, it sold 4.5 million Tesla shares. As of its most recent annual filing, the fund owned approximately 90.4 million Tesla shares, which was equivalent to $3.2 billion as of June 3.
On Wednesday, Tesla dropped 2.9 percent to $332.05. This year, the shares are down roughly 18%.
Musk has split his time as CEO of Tesla for years between leadership positions at X, SpaceX, and The Boring Co. xAI, Neuralink, but his work during the Trump administration was especially detrimental to the brand, causing protests at Tesla stores and vandalism of its facilities and cars. 55 percent of the 2,000 Americans polled by Washington-based GBAO last month said they had a negative opinion of Musk, and among those who own or are thinking about purchasing an electric car, Tesla was the least popular brand. Most significantly, 51% of survey participants stated that they would have a more positive opinion of Tesla if the richest person in the world were to take over as CEO.
“It appears that the target’s perceptions of Musk and the brand have changed irrevocably. He has terrible numbers. “.”.
Omero Margie.
As the company gets ready to launch a pilot robotaxi program in Austin this month, many investors seem to be hopeful that Musk will be more involved in leading the company. Musk has now stated that he has stepped back from his DOGE duties, and Tesla stock has risen in recent weeks, rising more than 50% since April 21. In an apparent attempt to distance himself from Trump, he called the president’s so-called Big Beautiful budget bill a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday due to the significant increase in the federal deficit.
The GBAO Principal who led the Musk-Tesla survey, Margie Omero, is skeptical that the billionaire’s recent actions will have an impact.
“He may claim to be leaving, but his support of Trump—both in helping to elect him and in carrying out his policies in the government—will not change anything. “They’re not done yet,” she declared. According to pollster GBAO, who primarily covers progressive topics, EV purchasers and Tesla’s core clientele typically identify as Democrats. “If you consider the current state of opinions about Musk and the brand among the target audience, it appears that there is no turning back. He has terrible numbers. “.”.
“In some ways, Tesla’s and Elon Musk’s brands are one and the same—both have suffered greatly,” stated Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who also signed the April letter to board chair Denholm. Currently, approximately $175 million is held in Tesla by the Maryland State Retirement Agency through pooled accounts.
“I am constantly looking to ensure that our retirees and their hard-earned retirement funds are invested wisely—and with companies governed by boards we can trust and who are engaged in responsible business practices,” Lierman said, referring to the returns of our retirement portfolio and investments.
Since his fraudulent statement in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private, Musk’s actions and unrestrained remarks on social issues have continued for years. He had to appear in court to defend his remarks in a defamation trial that same year after calling a critic a “pedo guy.”. When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, he called emergency public health regulations “fascist” during a 2020 earnings call meltdown. He recently appeared to give a Nazi-style salute at a Trump victory rally and wildly waved a chainsaw onstage at a conservative political conference in February. It hasn’t helped that recent, thorough reports of his use of Adderall and ketamine have surfaced.
A request for comment from Denholm was not answered. Frerichs, Weingarten, and Lierman stated that they have not received a response to their letters from Tesla’s board. Although it hasn’t made a decision yet, Weingarten stated that AFT is considering bringing legal action against Tesla’s board.
According to her, Musk “has done huge damage to the Tesla brand and Tesla’s reputation.”. Outside pension funds, including those who support them, will attempt to compel these boards to fulfill their duties if they fail to do so. “”.
Forbes has more details.
ForbesThere are five people who could manage Tesla more effectively than Elon Musk. Things are going to get considerably worse.
