That Elon Musk hasn’t quite grasped the responsibilities of running a publicly listed company should be obvious by now but the SEC’s had to remind him concerning Tesla. You’re not allowed to Tweet out whatever publicity you think you’d like to tell people. Things that are material statements about the company are things that need to be communicated formally, through the formal channels.
This is not rocket science – something which Elon’s other company shows is easier to certain personality types:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Elon Musk could face a possible a jail sentence after an American regulator asked a judge to hold him in contempt for ignoring an order banning him from tweeting market-moving information about the company. The Tesla boss could also face fines for the tweet sent on February 19 which said the electric car company would make half a million cars in 2019. The Securities and Exchange Commission claims that not only was the tweet inaccurate, but that it did not receive approval from board members, a condition of a recent settlement for market manipulation. [/perfectpullquote]The Tweets in question:
Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2019
And:
Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for year still estimated to be about 400k.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2019
It’s entirely true, as Donald Trump has shown, that it’s possible to leap the media gatekeepers and use social media to talk direct. But then that’s rather the point of the SEC, to be that media gatekeeper and make sure no one’s doing that leaping. About time Elon Musk grasped that fact at Tesla really.