Meet the new president of Tesla who has to supervise Elon Musk
Meet the new president of Tesla who has to supervise Elon Musk
named Robyn Denholm as its new president, replacing CEO Elon Musk as head of the board with a relative outsider who will face the difficult task of supervising the multimillionaire maverick.
Ms. Denholm, chief financial officer of the Australian telecommunications company Telstra Corp., has served on Tesla's board since 2014, but has less ties to Mr. Musk than most of the company's directors. She assumes the position of president of Tesla with immediate effect, said Tesla, and will continue in her position at Telstra during her six-month notification period. She assumed responsibility as Telstra's chief financial officer on October 1.
Tesla shares rose 0.9% to $ 351.30 in afternoon trading.
Wednesday night's announcement comes before the November 13 deadline that was part of Mr. Musk's agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to end the claims he misled investors. That agreement required that Mr. Musk step aside as head of the board for three years in favor of an independent president.
Installing Mrs. Denholm, who is 55 years old, as president places another leader at the top of Tesla for the first time since her first days when Musk was named president in 2004 after becoming the biggest investor. Mr. Musk, who also holds the title of Senior Product Architect, has directed Tesla almost as an extension of himself, heading parts of the business as varied as strategy and marketing, and engineering while immersing himself in the smallest details of production. He is still CEO.
The decision gets into one of the brightest foci in American companies, a woman little known in the United States, but who has extensive experience as a finance executive in Silicon Valley and his native Australia.
"From the current directors, she is a good choice," said Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of CtW Investment Group, which represents pension funds sponsored by unions that own Tesla shares. The proof of his "independent leadership will be if he can transform the board of directors into a functional entity that can guide the CEO," he said, via email.
As a member of the Tesla board, Ms. Denholm has provided an exceptional automotive experience to a company that prides itself on being a non-industry person. She spent seven years in
Toyota engine
Corp.
in Australia, where she was a senior financial manager. She had joined the board of directors of the Swiss robotics, power and automation technology company ABB when she joined Telstra.
Ms. Denholm's career blossomed in the technology industry. She held various positions at Sun Microsystems before being hired at
Juniper nets
Inc.
in 2007. She became the financial and operations director in 2016, and in 2017 she joined Telstra, the largest telecommunications company in Australia, where she was initially director of operations.
When she was named chief financial officer and head of strategy at Telstra in late July, local media speculated that she was a contender to eventually take over the company with problems from Chief Executive Andrew Penn. During his years at Juniper, from 2007 to mid-2016, the company's revenues more than doubled, Mr. Penn said when announcing his hiring, and recognized it as a driving force in the restructuring and change of 2014 Juniper, which led to a record profit. in 2015.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk for securities fraud in a market tweet in August about the possibility of Tesla being private. The news is just the latest development in a tumultuous year for the CEO. Photo illustration: Heather Seidel / The Wall Street Journal
In recent years, Telstra's profits have been adversely affected by intense competition and loss of revenue after the sale of its fixed line network to the government to form the backbone of a nationwide broadband network. that would give access to wholesale sales to companies like Telstra.
A former colleague in Australia described Ms. Denholm as intelligent, practical and a good listener. "She expects high performance and is very supportive of direct conversations and people who are passionate about her work," said the person.
Ms. Denholm could not be contacted immediately for comment, and Telstra refused to make it available.
In her country of origin, Ms. Denholm has confronted Telstra's media in network ads that include 5G plans and other releases, but Musk is much better known to the public. It was set in Australia more than a year ago when it offered, through Twitter, to install and have it running within 100 days of Tesla's energy storage technology or it would be free for a southern state. It was an offer he made, after the offer was accepted by the prime minister of the state.
Ms. Denholm holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Sydney and a master's degree in commerce from the University of New South Wales, and is a member of the ANZ Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She has been on the list of the National Diversity Council of California among the 50 most powerful women in technology, was named "Woman to Watch" by Global Telecoms Business magazine in 2017 and was awarded the Distinguished Citizen Award in 2016 by the Commonwealth Club from Australia.
Enthusiasm for Mr. Musk's vision of the future, including electric cars that are driven alone, has helped make Tesla's market value a rival.
General engines
Co.
, even though Tesla has never made an annual profit and sells a fraction of the cars. Tesla's growth has been, in large part, driven by its continued access to capital, either through the issuance of new shares or by acquiring new debts. A Tesla without Mr. Musk would probably have more difficulty raising funds, analysts said.
That creates a challenging situation for the board of directors of Tesla and Mrs. Denholm. They have to administer Mr. Musk while allowing him to operate in an unconventional way that has allowed his success. Tesla recognizes it in its filings with the SEC, noting that the company is "highly dependent on the services" of Mr. Musk.
An agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission required Mr. Musk to step aside as head of the board for three years in favor of an independent chairman.
Photo:
Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press
Ross Gerber, executive director of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, which owns shares in Tesla, highlighted Ms. Denholm's long history of technology and global business, and said her experience with Tesla will be useful. "I think Elon working with a stranger would be difficult for obvious reasons," Gerber said. "There will be no learning curve. She will be working full time for Tesla. I think he respects her and that is very important. "
The dispute with the SEC arose from Mr. Musk's tweets of August 7, in which he raised the idea of taking Tesla in private and said he had obtained funds for an agreement of $ 420 per share. At first, the actions were triggered by the unexpected news, which then collapsed, as it became evident in the days that followed that Mr. Musk did not have a finalized plan.
The SEC alleged that Mr. Musk had no funds blocked and accused him of choosing that price, a reference to marijuana, to impress his girlfriend.
On September 29 agreement with the SEC, in which Mr. Musk did not admit or deny the irregularities, demanded that he and Tesla pay $ 20 million in fines. It also required that Tesla add two new independent board members and establish a system to monitor Mr. Musk's public statements. Tesla has until the end of December to meet those requirements. Mr. Musk was allowed to remain as CEO of Tesla and remain on Tesla's board.
Mr. Musk's tweet about the privatization of the draws triggered by the price of Tesla shares and caused a crisis for the council. A week later, he appointed a special committee to evaluate a possible agreement, composed of Ms. Denholm and two other directors. The committee hired advisors, but it was disbanded when Mr. Musk changed the course later in August.
It is not clear if the loss of the role of president will change Mr. Musk's behavior. Mr. Musk, famous for his lack of moderation On Twitter, it seems to have brought the subject to light. On October 30, he tweeted that he had erased his titles and would go for "Tesla Nothing", before adding another message that the company was required to have some titles and suggested that he would go for president.
Days later, the company filed documents with the SEC that continued calling him CEO.
That tweet was part of a series of statements from the SEC agreement that seemed to mock him without crossing a line to anger the agency to take further action. On October 4, he seemed to mock the SEC in a tweet labeling the agency as the "Shortseller Enrichment Commission", a reference to his enmity with investors who are betting against Tesla.
Tesla's board has been criticized by some investors and advocates of a perceived lack of independence because most directors have commercial or personal relationships with Mr. Musk. One is his brother, Kimbal Musk.
Shareholder advocates have challenged the Tesla board, with little success. Earlier this year, shareholders rejected a push to vote against Kimbal Musk, long-time investor Antonio Gracias and media executive James Murdoch, who was rated as without manufacturing qualifications.
Mr. Murdoch, the CEO of
It was widely speculated about being a leading candidate to assume the role of president. Mr. Musk deleted those reports in a tweet last month. (21st Century Fox and News Corp, parent company of The Wall Street Journal, share common ownership).
Last year, Mr. Murdoch joined Tesla's board along with Linda Johnson Rice, CEO of Johnson Publishing Co., after shareholders, including the California State Teachers Retirement System, pressured the company to add two independent directors.
Ms. Denholm began her career as an auditor at Arthur Andersen, Australia, in the 1980s, before joining Toyota in 1989. There, she performed a number of financial management functions when Toyota began adding larger and more luxurious vehicles. to your line.
He then spent about two decades in the technology companies of Silicon Valley, Sun Microsystems and Juniper Networks.
In recent years, Australia has become a testing ground for US automotive executives. UU General Motors Co.'s chief product executive, Mark Reuss, conducted operations there before returning to the US. for greater responsibilities. The combination of local manufacturing and sales operations gives executives a unique hands-on experience, as well as experience in handling currency fluctuations.
Write to Tim Higgins in Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com and Robb M. Stewart in robb.stewart@wsj.com
.
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