CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer on Tuesday suggested Tesla CEO Elon Musk take a medical leave of absence from the embattled electric car company, citing the embattled billionaire’s recent “self-destructive” behavior.
“I’m worried about the guy,” Cramer told Squawk on the Street panelists. “Medical leave is fine. I think the board puts him on medical leave. That’s not a sin.”
“A healthy Elon Musk is something that can take the stock higher,” he added.
As Breitbart News’ Lucas Nolan reported Monday, the Mad Money isn’t the only prominent figure to raise concerns about Musk’s recent behavior and Tesla business model: “Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have faced a rough few days, with Goldman Sachs predicting a 30 percent drop in Tesla’s stock price over the next six months, suppliers growing skeptical of Tesla’s production goals,Tesla’s bond prices hitting a record low following CEO Elon Musk’s renewed attack on the British cave rescuer who saved the lives of a Thai soccer team, and Musk drinking whiskey and smoking weed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.”
In a recent interview with CNBC, Strategic Wealth Partners CEO Mark Tepper called Tesla stock the “absolute epitome of instability.”
“I wouldn’t touch this thing with a 10-foot pole,” Tepper said of the car company last Friday.”We like buying companies with a good growth story, strong management team, that are reasonably priced and Tesla doesn’t get a check in any of those boxes.”
Asked about the recent wave of high-profile resignations plaguing Tesla, Tepper described Musk as being “absolutely off his rocker.”
“Maybe the pressure is getting to him, but his behavior just seems odd,” the investor mused. “The management team is dropping like flies.” Doubling down on his criticism of Tesla’s stock, Tepper said, “We’re avoiding this thing like the plague.”
Last week, Citron Research editor and famed short seller Andrew Left sued Tesla for breaching U.S. securities law. The complaint accuses the erratic billionaire of falsely claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private to manipulate the company’s share price.
“This appears to be a textbook case of fraud,” Left’s attorney Michael Canty said in a statement. “We believe Musk attempted to manipulate the price of Tesla securities with false and misleading tweets, in a directed effort to harm short-sellers.”
Musk’s world was turned upside down after sending out an August 7 tweet claiming he would be taking Tesla private at $420 per share. The announcement was not only false, but many of Tesla’s board members had no idea Musk was considering the bold move.
In an August 24 blog post, Musk would go on to write that Tesla had abandoned mulling proposals to take the company private. “I worked with Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who have world-class expertise in these matters, to consider the many factors that would come into play in taking Tesla private, and to process all the incoming interest that we received from investors to fund a go-private transaction,” Musk wrote. “After considering all of these factors, I met with Tesla’s Board of Directors yesterday and let them know that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public. The Board indicated that they agree.”
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