One of Tesla's earliest investors is urging CEO Elon Musk to step down, arguing he's too distracted.
Wealth manager Ross Gerber has called for Musk to either fully commit to Tesla or step aside as he feels the tech billionaire's growing responsibilities have pulled him away from running the carmaker.
Just this year, Musk was appointed as the Head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) tasked with federal spending cuts whilst being Donald Trump's right-hand man.
Meanwhile, the US President ordered the SpaceX founder to bring two NASA astronauts back to Earth after they were stranded on the ISS for nearly 10 months.
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Gerber believes this, along with Musk’s other ventures, have led to the electric car maker being 'neglected.'
Furthermore, Gerber says Musk’s heavy political involvement has turned the company into a political symbol, putting off potential buyers.
In response, it has attracted public anger, protests and arson attacks on Tesla shops.
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"I think Tesla needs a new CEO and I decided today I was going to start saying it and so this is the first show that I'm saying it on," Gerber said.
"It's time for somebody to run Tesla. The business has been neglected for too long.
He added: "There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing but find a suitable CEO of Tesla."
Pointing to Tesla's declining stock value, which has plummeted by over $800 billion since December 2024, and Musk's political responsibilities, Gerber argued that the business was 'absolutely' in crisis. In response, he said he sold off a substantial amount of shares in recent months.
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The business has been struggling on several fronts, including slowing demand for electric vehicles in Western markets and increasing competition from Chinese competitors - plus, its unimpressed feedback at the October Robotaxi event.
Now, with the looming impact of Trump’s trade war on production costs - it's no wonder investors are concerned.
And since buying X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, the world's richest man has fuelled a wave of controversies and built a growing base of critics.
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"The company's reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk," he said.
"Sales are plummeting so, yeah, it's a crisis. You literally can't sell the best product in the market place because the CEO is so divisive".