Tesla said Wednesday that Airbnb co-founder Joseph Gebbia has joined the electric vehicle maker’s board, reversing a move to reduce the number of directors at the world’s most valuable carmaker.
Tesla said in June that it planned to have just seven board seats after Oracle Inc. co-founder Larry Ellison left in August, criticizing a shareholder body over a lack of independent board members.
In July, SOC Investment Group filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying Tesla’s plan failed to comply with a 2018 “consensus decree” with the SEC that included two independent board seats. She was
The agreement stems from a tweet by CEO Elon Musk about taking Tesla private. Ellison, a self-described close friend of Musk, was hired by Tesla to comply with the agreement in December 2018.
American billionaire designer and Internet entrepreneur Gebia joins Tesla in July after saying he would step down from his full-time role to take on an advisory role at Airbnb.
Musk tweeted at the time, “Congratulations on an incredible company with Airbnb, now for Book 2!”.
In 2018, Gebia praised Musk’s attempt to take Tesla private as a “baller move” in text messages that surfaced earlier this year as part of an ongoing shareholder lawsuit. Musk replied, “It sucks to be public.”
Some experts were skeptical whether the billionaire would add diversity to the Tesla board.
“It feels like the same thing. More of Mr. Musk’s brother than someone new and different,” said John Coffey, professor and director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.
Gebia, 41, has waived all rights to cash compensation and has agreed not to take any stock-based rewards until July 2023, Tesla said in a regulatory filing.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
