In a deal announced late Saturday between Tesla and the Securities and Exchange Commission,  Elon Musk will be stepping down as Chairman of Tesla Motors and barred from holding that position for 3 years. Additionally, Musk and Tesla will pay $20 million in fines each.  

As part of the settlement, Tesla will add two additional board members and more closely monitor Mr. Musk's public communications. 

Neither Tesla nor Mr. Musk admit wrongdoing as part of this agreement. 

The settlement comes as a surprise as apparently Musk had rejected a similar deal earlier this week.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by the SEC against Musk and Tesla over an August 7th tweet by Mr. Musk that "funding is secured" to take Tesla private. Federal investigators found that the deal referred to in the tweet was still in the early stages and thus was considered deceptive to investors.

Update: Musk will stay on as CEO. Resigning only as Chairman of the Board.

View full article

Maybe this will hasten Tesla's demise.

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Maybe this will hasten Tesla's demise.

Or possibly stanch the bleeding.  This will force the Board of Directors to get a real car guy that can right the ship and execute a plan. . . . . or at least find the right buyer.  If Tesla needs Elon Musk, then that is a real problem.

I feel like Elon likes to create a bit of a circus and this one back fired on him but I doubt he really cares either.  He is still the majority shareholder and can call the shots. And if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll probably shut it down and move to Mars.

12 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Or possibly stanch the bleeding.  This will force the Board of Directors to get a real car guy that can right the ship and execute a plan. . . . . or at least find the right buyer.  If Tesla needs Elon Musk, then that is a real problem.

I saw verification this morning ( I didn't have it last night) that Musk is staying on as CEO, just not as Chairman of the Board. 

3 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I feel like Elon likes to create a bit of a circus and this one back fired on him but I doubt he really cares either.  He is still the majority shareholder and can call the shots. And if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll probably shut it down and move to Mars.

New Chairman hopefully will be a real business man and auto person who can take Tesla in the right direction. It also could end up calling for Musk's Head and new CEO to make it happen.

Does not matter that he is the majority stock owner. CEOs still have to answer to the board!

Correction: he is not the majority stock holder. He is the largest shareholder. He holds around 20%

Good..hoping he will keep hos mouth shut so they can actually sell cars......

8 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Good..hoping he will keep his mouth shut so they can actually sell cars......

Yes it would be good for him to focus on growing the business by building quality EVs and selling them.

On 9/30/2018 at 12:51 PM, dfelt said:

New Chairman hopefully will be a real business man and auto person who can take Tesla in the right direction. It also could end up calling for Musk's Head and new CEO to make it happen.

Does not matter that he is the majority stock owner. CEOs still have to answer to the board!

Problem is the board has a lot of people friendly to Elon, including his brother.

55 minutes ago, William Maley said:

Problem is the board has a lot of people friendly to Elon, including his brother.

Hi Brother should be out also, that is a big problem having to many family members on the board.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/04/elon-musk-mocks-sec-as-shortseller-enrichment-commission-days-after-settlement.html 

I have to say while he is a prick, he can make me laugh!

 SEC = Shortseller Enrichment Commission 

He really should focus on making his company profitable and hurting the short sellers the best way possible by making the stock price go up! ?

On 9/29/2018 at 7:53 PM, ocnblu said:

Maybe this will hasten Tesla's demise.

Given their cash flow....they won't need this. They are pretty much doomed to fail at any rate.

On 9/29/2018 at 10:54 PM, riviera74 said:

Or possibly stanch the bleeding.  This will force the Board of Directors to get a real car guy that can right the ship and execute a plan. . . . . or at least find the right buyer.  If Tesla needs Elon Musk, then that is a real problem.

Quoted for truth.