Tesla Names James Murdoch and Linda Johnson Rice to Board -- 2nd Update
July 17 2017 - 5:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Tim Higgins
Tesla Inc., which has faced criticism from its investors about a
lack of independent directors, named 21st Century Fox Inc. Chief
Executive James Murdoch and Ebony Media CEO Linda Johnson Rice to
its board.
The appointments announced Monday expands Tesla's board to nine
people, including the Silicon Valley auto maker's CEO, Elon
Musk.
In April, Mr. Musk suggested Tesla would appoint two additional
directors when he responded on Twitter to a group of five
investors, including the California State Teachers' Retirement
System and CtW Investment Group, that were calling for improved
corporate governance. Among the changes, the investors requested
Tesla recruit two new directors that don't have prior personal or
professional ties with Mr. Musk.
Mr. Murdoch is the son of Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman
of Fox and News Corp, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. James
Murdoch, who also serves on the board of News Corp and is the
chairman of Sky PLC, replaced his father as CEO of Fox in 2015.
Ms. Rice, who had been chairman emeritus of Ebony Media
Holdings, returned to run the holding company that includes Ebony
magazine earlier this year after selling the family-owned Johnson
Publishing last year. She has been active on other boards,
including as a director for Omnicom Group Inc. since 2000 and
GrubHub Inc. She becomes Tesla's second female director.
Besides Mr. Musk, who is chairman, Tesla's board includes his
brother; a former top executive for SolarCity Corp., where Mr. Musk
has served as chairman; two longtime venture-capital investors in
Tesla; a private-equity investor and a telecommunications
executive.
Mr. Musk is under intense scrutiny as he races to ramp up
production of the Model 3, a new $35,000 sedan that he expects will
fuel massive sales growth next year. He has projected Tesla will
make a total of 500,000 vehicles in 2018, up from about 84,000 last
year.
Enthusiasm for the Model 3 has sent shares soaring more than 50%
this year, though the stock has fallen in the past few weeks --
including 2.5% on Monday -- following disappointing second-quarter
sales figures. On Saturday, Mr. Musk told a group of U.S. governors
that he believed the company's market value was greater than Tesla
deserved.
On Monday, Mr. Musk clarified his comments on Saturday,
tweeting: "Tesla stock is obviously high based on past &
present, but low if you believe in Tesla's future. Place bets
accordingly."
He also on Monday sought to put to rest news that a crash in
Minnesota involving Tesla's semiautonomous Autopilot system. The
driver of the 2016 Tesla car, which rolled over in a marsh,
slightly injuring the four passengers, originally told police he
engaged the car's semiautonomous system and the vehicle then
suddenly accelerated. However, Mr. Musk posted an email he says is
from the driver stating he believed he had disengaged Autopilot at
the time of the crash. The driver couldn't immediately be reached
for comment.
Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 17, 2017 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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