Company investors want a new CEO as "Elon Musk destroyed Tesla's reputation"

Ross Gerber, a long-time investor at Tesla, publicly demanded that Elon Musk resign as CEO. Gerbal feels that he is getting distracted, especially due to Trump's stay at the White House, and is leading the company into crisis.

Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Management, told Sky News, "There is no doubt that Musk is committed to his work in the government. That's where he is spending his time. He is not running Tesla. I think Tesla needs a new CEO. The business has been ignored for too long."

Gerber Kawasaki has invested in Tesla for a decade with Musk as its leader. While not among Tesla's largest investors - as of February 2025, his company holds 262,352 shares - his company has been reducing its investment in Tesla since 2023. Ross Gerber, one of Musk's loudest advocates for changes at the company, has begun speaking out against Musk. His criticism has escalated after Musk became more involved with White House affairs.

He told the outlet, "Tesla is doing a lot of important work, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and become the CEO of Tesla and give up his other engagements or he should focus on the government and continue doing the work he is doing, but find a suitable CEO for Tesla."

Tesla's shares continue to fall. The shares have fallen by five percent in the last five days. The company's shares have fallen more than 50 percent from the December peak. In such a scenario, Gerber says a leadership change is necessary.

He further argued that Musk's involvement with Twitter (now X) has distracted him and Tesla has received a lot of negative publicity from it. He said, "The company's reputation has been destroyed by Elon Musk. Sales are declining, so yes, it's a crisis time. You literally cannot sell the best product in the market because the CEO is distracted."