Tesla in turmoil: Executives bail and stock plunges

Tesla's greatest invention is its 'Hype Machine'

Top executives are leaving Tesla, and the stock fell as much as 10%.

Tesla's chief accounting officer has resigned less than a month after he assumed the job, the company announced. And Bloomberg reported that its chief people officer, Gaby Toledano, is not returning to the company after taking a leave of absence.

The departures add to investor concern about a company in tumult. CEO Elon Musk devised and then quickly canceled a plan to take the company private. A podcast appearance Thursday night featuring whiskey, a joint and a Samurai sword was only the latest example of Musk's eccentric behavior.

Tesla stock has lost a third of its value since August 7, the day Musk announced the go-private plan.

Executives get out

Dave Morton, a former chief financial officer at Seagate (STX), had joined Tesla on August 6 as chief accounting officer. That was the day before CEO Elon Musk tweeted he was planning to take the company private. (Musk dropped those plans less than three weeks later.)

The company said that Morton gave notice and left the company Tuesday.

"Since I joined Tesla on August 6th, the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations," said a statement from Morton released by the company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "As a result, this caused me to reconsider my future.

"I want to be clear that I believe strongly in Tesla, its mission, and its future prospects, and I have no disagreements with Tesla's leadership or its financial reporting," he added.

Toledano ran the human relations department and was one of the top executives at the company.

In addition to Morton and Toledano, the company has recently lost a number of other top executives, including Doug Field, who left his job as Tesla senior vice president of engineering earlier this summer and returned to Apple (AAPL) where he had previously worked.

The news of Morton's departure was another hit to investor confidence in Tesla (TSLA).

Let's block ads! (Why?)