Elon Musk steps down as Tesla's Chairman
New York, Sep 30 : Elon Musk has agreed to step down as chairman of Tesla Inc. for three years and pay a $20 million fine in a deal with the stock market regulatory authority, Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) to resolve securities fraud charges.
The S.E.C. announced the deal on Saturday two days after it sued Musk in federal court for misleading investors over his post on Twitter last month that he had "funding secured" for a buyout of the electric-car company at $420 a share, reports The New York Times.
Under the settlement, which requires court approval, Musk will be allowed to stay as CEO but must leave his role as chairman of the board within 45 days. He cannot seek re-election for three years, according to court filings.
He accepted the deal with the SEC "without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint", according to a court document.
The company also agreed to appoint two new independent directors to its board and establish a board committee to oversee Musk's communications, reports CNN.
His tweet about taking his company private, along with attacks on critics on social media, raised concerns with investors about whether Musk has become too focused on criticism from so-called short-sellers who had been making bets against him and Tesla.
The company has recently been struggling to meet audacious production goals for its Model 3 sedan. The company, whose shares have been hit hard since the S.E.C. filed the lawsuit, did not immediately comment on the settlement.
On Friday, its stock dropped almost 14 per cent.
Tesla in recent years has become one the most valuable American carmaker, with its stock worth more than $50 billion. However, The company has been struggling to achieve the ambitious production targets that Musk had publicly outlined.
He has made a series of unusual public comments or appearances, including an internet interview in which Musk appeared to smoke marijuana.
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Ex-minister Ramanath Rai hits out at BJP leader Ashoka for ‘irresponsible’ comments on KC Venugopal
Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai slammed BJP leader R Ashoka for calling AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal an agent of the party high command, and asked if the general secretary and other office-bearers in the BJP were commission agents too.
Rai, who addressed a press meet at the Congress office in the city on Friday, expressed fury over the recent comments of the BJP leader that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was presenting himself in a shameless manner in public life. Ashoka, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had said that the Congress government had ‘broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies’.
“Ashoka has spoken with sheer ignorance and displays his lack of maturity, as he often does while facing the media. KC Venugopal has been working at organization of the party and it is unbecoming of Ashoka to criticize Venugopal as he did,” Rai told reporters.
“Being in a responsible position, how acceptable is it for Ashoka to pass disrespectful, random comments about another leader who also holds a responsible position? If KC Venugopal is indeed an agent of the party high command, what should we consider BJP leaders to be? Are they brokers?” he asked
Commenting on Ashoka’s allegations of corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, Rai pointed out, “The KSRTC land was sold to private parties when he (Ashoka) was transport minister. We can find several such cases across the state, which need to be probed.”
The former minister, however, refused to comment on the incident that occurred at Mangaluru airport during CM Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city recently.
Former mayors Ashraf and Shashidhar Hegde, Congress activists Vishwas Kumar Das, Subhodaya Alva, Shabeer, Baby Kundar, Padmanabha, Nazeer Bajal and Prem were present.
