Electric automaker Tesla gives CEO Elon Musk the new title of ‘Technoking’.
Grow Your Business, Not Your Inbox
Stay informed and join our daily newsletter now!
March 15, 2021 3 min read
This story originally appeared on ValueWalk
Tesla has given CEO Elon Musk a new title: “Technoking.” A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed Tesla’s new title for Musk and a new title for the chief financial officer. CFO Zach Kirkhorn has been named “Master of Coin.”
Elon Musk named Technoking of Tesla
Tesla also said Musk would retain his CEO position, but instead of chief executive officer, his title will be Technoking. The regulatory filing gives today as the effective date. It’s unclear why Musk’s and Kirkhorn’s titles have been changed or what they mean.
The automaker announced last month that it had purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, so “Master of Coin” could be a reference to that purchase. Fox Business suggests Musk’s title change could be a reference to his love of techno music.
He is dating musician Grimes and released his own techno music song last year called “Don’t Doubt ur Vibe” via Soundcloud. Musk also suggested adding a “rave cave” to the Gigafactory Tesla is building in Berlin. The supposed rave cave would feature “hardcore techno, but maybe a little elevator music in the toilet.”
Tesla also said in a separate regulatory filing that Jerome Guillen, its president of Automotive, is now president of Tesla Heavy Trucking as the semi approaches production. Over the weekend, the automaker released a new video of the all-electric truck being driven on its test track.
More problems for Musk and Tesla
As Tesla gives Musk the new title of Technoking, a new lawsuit threatens both. Bloomberg Law reported that an investor sued Musk, Tesla and the board of directors. The suit alleges that Musk exposed the automaker to billions of dollars in potential market losses and liability through his continuing “erratic” tweets.
The case references the deal Musk and Tesla made with the SEC to have all his tweets pre-screened before posting. It accuses the board of failing to keep Musk’s online behavior under control and alleges that Musk has repeatedly violated the 2018 settlement with the SEC. That agreement included $20 million payments each from Tesla and Musk and required the automaker to oversee Musk’s posts on social media. Musk’s tweets about taking the company private triggered the original case from the SEC, which alleged that he had misled investors.
Tesla is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders’ families. Musk co-founded Tesla with JB Straubel, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning and Ian Wright.