Elon Musk doesn't respect the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he said in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes. Musk told CBS' Lesley Stahl that none of his tweets have been censored since he reached a settlement with the SEC in September. He said no one has to read his tweets before hitting send. He also explained that he personally chose his successor as president of Tesla, before undermining his authority by saying he could "do anything I want".
In August, Tesla's CEO announced in a tweet that he wanted to take his electric car company private, and that he had "guaranteed funds" from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. The last-minute announcement drove up Tesla's share price. When it became clear that Musk didn't have a deal, the SEC created an investigation and quickly filed a fraud lawsuit against Musk over the tweet.
Two days later, Musk reached an agreement with the agency that required him to pay a $20 million fine, resign from Tesla's presidency, appoint two new independent directors to the board and install oversight of its public communications about the company. including your tweets.
"The only tweets that would have to be, let's say, 'reviewed' would be if a tweet has a probability of causing a stock price movement," Musk told Stahl. "Otherwise, it's 'Hello, First Amendment.' Just like free speech is critical."
The language of the agreement he signed in September states that he must:
Comply with all mandatory procedures implemented by Tesla, Inc. with respect to (i) the supervision of Company-related communications made in any format, including, but not limited to, postings on social media (eg, Twitter), the Company's website (eg, the Company's blog), press releases and investor calls, and (ii) pre-approval of any written communications that contain or reasonably may contain informational material for the Company or its shareholders.
That language doesn't say all the tweets it needs to be executed by a lawyer, just the ones that could influence the market. In theory, then, Musk is free to tweet without consulting one of Tesla's lawyers.
But unless someone is displaying every tweet Musk wants to send out, it's hard to say for sure that market-influencing tweets will be properly analyzed before they go live. The oversight that the SEC wanted to put in place, then, appears to be completely dependent on it.
Stahl pressed Musk, see the conversation below:
STAHL: "But how do they know if it's going to move the market if they're not reading them all before they send them out?"
MUSK: Well, I think we can make some mistakes. Who knows?"
STAHL: "Are you serious?"
MUSK: "Nobody is perfect" [laughs].
STAHL: "Look at you."
MUSK: "I want to be clear, I don't respect the SEC. I don't respect them"
STAHL: "But you're keeping the deal, aren't you?"
MUSK: "Because I respect the justice system."
In a statement, a Tesla spokesperson said the company can "confirm that the agreement is being fulfilled". This includes having a policy (which technically needs to be in effect by December 28th) that requires pre-approval of any communications that reasonably may contain relevant information. "
Later in the interview, Musk was asked about his company's new president, Robyn Denholm, who replaced him as part of the deal. The "impression was that [Denholm] was put to take care of you," Stahl said. Typically, the job of the chairman of a board of directors is to serve as the head of the CEO.
"That's unrealistic in the sense that I'm the biggest shareholder in the company, and I can just ask for a shareholder vote and do whatever I want," Musk replied. Stahl didn't ask Musk about the part of the deal that required him to pay a $20 million fine as a result of his August tweets. But when he was asked about the October fine, he said on Twitter, of course, paying that money was "worth it."
Fonte: TheVerge
