this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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Economics

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Summary

A major early Tesla investor, Ross Gerber, has called for Elon Musk to step down as CEO unless he abandons his role in Trump's DOGE.

In an interview with Sky News, Gerber declared Tesla is "absolutely in crisis," citing neglect of the business while Musk pursues widening interests.

Tesla's market value has plunged over $800 billion since December amid slumping demand, Chinese competition, potential trade war impacts, and controversy surrounding Musk's government role.

Gerber claims Musk's divisiveness has "destroyed" Tesla's reputation despite having "the best product in the marketplace."

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 12 hours ago

Then he'd be a quitter! Elon, don't listen to this guy, don't be a quitter. You can have the best of both worlds, destroying the US and your EV company. You don't have to choose, I believe in you, buddy.

[–] [email protected] 107 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Uh, that’s not going to do shit.

Oooh, he’s not the CEO anymore. 👻

May all his and your stock disappear in a cloud of poofed value for your complicity.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 16 hours ago

The one thing I'm getting from this statement from a large tesla investor saying that tesla is in chaos, is that it's gonna cause even more investors to pull out. You don't want a major shareholder saying the company you're both invested in is in chaos.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Yup, he'd have to sell everyone of his stocks and remove every friend and family member of the board and then maybe but still probably not. I hope Tesla goes completely bankrupt now.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago

Same! They were great to get the electric car market started, but honestly, the brand has tarnished itself and most people hate them.

Now there are tons of options on the market.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Tesla investors can go fuck themselves!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Tesla investors? You mean Nazi collaborators.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

That's why bosses want us back in the office. They want to make collaborators of us all

[–] [email protected] 48 points 15 hours ago

IMO, at least for me, it's too late. He'll still be deeply entangled with the company and a large part of his wealth is tied to them. I'll never give Tesla my money, never! That company can fail for all I give a damn.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Electric car demand appears to have peaked across key Western markets despite steep discounting to boost appeal at a time of continued strain on consumer budgets.

yeah when they artificially limit the market to domestics. open that shit up and see how much demand there is

[–] [email protected] 34 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

That’s odd, because I’ve seen more than a few charts saying yoy sales are up, except for Tesla.

The domestic manufacturers struggled for decades against the Japanese manufacturers, and they continue to lag behind in quality and finish. The Chinese will destroy them, as long as they don’t try to go too cheap and do something like faking the safety tests etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

The Chinese will destroy them

Largely because they can sell at or below cost and still make a profit, because they're being propped up by the Chinese government.

Domestic production is the legitimate use of tariffs, especially when the target country is effectively hacking their prices lower through subsidies. China wants to Walmart green tech. They want to artificially lower their prices until they've driven out all competition permanently.

Just like how Canada's high tariff on US dairy after a certain limit was valid because they want to retain some of their own production. And the US could literally drown Canada in milk.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Even if he did, people should continue to boycott them, simply because Elon will always associate them with himself.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 12 hours ago

People should continue to boycott them for as long as Elon holds Tesla shares. If he steps down and the company gets a 20% boost, his wealth increases with it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 12 hours ago

Tesla has always been destined to go bankrupt, it's kinda one of the things Tesla was known for.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 13 hours ago

Hell yeah, this is what I’ve been waiting for. He may be able to take the slow bleed, but his investors can’t. They have wiped all gains from the last 6 months. I feel like the joker with how big my smile is. Lmfao.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Nothing will change until the institutional investors (the largest investors) wake up. Ross Gerber is not on this list.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA/holders/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

The institutional investors are mostly "dumb money" (index funds). They can't "wake up." Of the top 10 mutual fund holders as listed on the bottom of the page you linked, only #8 and #10 are actively-managed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago

Hah. He wanted to sell some of his shares and they blocked him. All the outrageous behaviour is on purpose. He’s tanking the value since they wouldn’t let him sell. Sucks to be them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

That would be great. The less connected Elon is to Tesla, SpaceX, etc. the better.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Elon is the face of those companies. The company would need to be scrapped and built from the ground up, without his involvement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

I disagree. Rip the face off, they'll be fine.

I don't think the cybertruck would have happened without Elon. Elon is obviously very good at some things but I don't think managing a company is one of them. He's very good at optimizing production lines which has gotten Tesla and SpaceX so far ahead of the competition.