On Monday, Musk said he was working overnight at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. He will be "sleeping at the company" until the social media platform's problems are fixed. Most recently, he completed the acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk is a self-described "detail manager" who likes to work long hours in times of crisis. It's also a well-known part of his personal brand. Yet Musk's deep involvement in Twitter's operations has some Tesla investors concerned about his ability to focus on his job as Tesla's chief executive officer. Tesla is currently the world's most valuable automaker.
"Tesla investors are going to be frustrated," said Gene Munster, managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures. "The amount of time he spends on Twitter makes Tesla investors uncomfortable."
“I care about Tesla too,” Musk tweeted on Monday, planning to work part of the week at Tesla. Tesla has offices in Palo Alto, California, and a factory in Fremont, California.
Tesla's stock has fallen 50% since he disclosed his Twitter stake in early April. Over the same period, Musk has sold a total of $20 billion in Tesla stock, which has put more pressure on him.
Tesla is facing mounting challenges, including demand issues and U.S. regulators investigating Autopilot driver-assistance technology.
According to statistics, so far this month, more than two-thirds of Musk's Twitter posts are about promoting Twitter's recovery. From November 1 to 15, Tesla-related posts accounted for only 3% of them, significantly lower than the previous eight-month average of nearly 16%.
Munster said he expects Twitter to draw even more attention from Musk over the next six to 12 months. Meanwhile, Tesla has become a more mature company, less directly dependent on Musk.
In recent days, Musk has said his workload has increased significantly following the Twitter acquisition. “I have so much work to do,” he said Monday as he joined a business conference in Indonesia via video link, where he worked “from morning till night, seven days a week”.
"Once Twitter gets on the right track, I think it will be easier to manage than SpaceX or Tesla," Musk said earlier this month at a Barron's investment conference.
Tesla investor Ross Gerber is a staunch supporter of Musk. He said on Tuesday that Tesla needed to find a deputy for Musk. "I think he's finally getting to the point where he needs to really challenge himself. They need to find the right guy. And frankly, they don't have that right now."
Tesla's board has previously expressed concern about the time Musk spends managing SpaceX and several other smaller companies. In legal proceedings related to Musk's compensation package, court documents show that Tesla's board chairman Robyn Denholm said in a 2018 email that Musk invested only in Tesla. "Minimum time" is "becoming more and more problematic". A Tesla shareholder has accused the board of directors of approving Musk's $56 billion compensation package without requiring him to commit full time.
Another board member, Ira Ehrenpreis, pointed out during the trial that Musk's compensation was based on his performance, not his time spent. Musk also reiterated this in his 2021 testimony. At Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in August, Musk referred to his colleagues in response to a question about "key-person risk." "We have a very talented team. So I think even if I get abducted by aliens or return to my home planet, Tesla can continue to do well," he said.
Musk is expected to go to court on Wednesday local time to testify on whether his $56 billion compensation package at Tesla is reasonable. He did not respond to investor concerns in this regard.
Musk has proven skeptics wrong before. Some early investors said they expected Musk would be ready to take on Twitter's challenge. Billionaire investor Tim Draper said: "When you meet an entrepreneur who does everything by himself, we should kiss his feet. This guy is amazing."
Others, however, have lost patience. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has long been bullish on Tesla. "Musk has succeeded in what the bear market has eluded for years, weighing on Tesla stock," he said in a research note last week.
Ives believes that Twitter is a "distraction" for Musk and a "funding black hole." "Twitter's circus is gradually affecting Tesla's pure electric car brand."
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