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Robyn Beck | Pool | Reuters
Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at the unveiling event by “The Boring Company” for the test tunnel of a proposed underground transportation network across Los Angeles County, in Hawthorne, California, December 18, 2018.
Tesla proposed the appointment of Larry Ellison, founder and executive chairman of Oracle, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, global head of human resources at Walgreens Boots Alliance, to its board on Friday, in compliance with an SEC settlement.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk agreed in September to appoint a new chairman and two independent board members following an SEC lawsuit alleging that Musk misled investors with a tweet about taking the company private at $420 a share.
Shares of Tesla rose more than 3 percent in premarket trading.
“In conducting a widespread search over the last few months, we sought to add independent directors with skills that would complement the current board’s experience. In Larry and Kathleen, we have added a preeminent entrepreneur and a human resources leader, both of whom have a passion for sustainable energy,” Tesla’s existing directors said in a statement.
Tesla’s board has historically been tightly linked to its CEO and includes, among others, his brother Kimbal Musk. The stipulation in the SEC settlement was intended to introduce more oversight of the CEO, who has dragged the company’s stock lower with his unchecked use of social media and other antics.
Existing board member Robyn Denholm was named chairwoman in November. Denholm was seen as an experienced, though predictable pick at the time, but investors and analysts had been hoping for a truly independent, outside chairperson to fully check Musk.
The two new board members are supposed to be independents, as well.
Meanwhile, longstanding Tesla board member and venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson has been “on leave” from the board for over a year, after reports of his sexual misconduct. Those reports led to his being ousted from the eponymous venture firm he founded, DFJ, which backed both Tesla and Elon Musk’s other company, SpaceX.
Besides appointing new board members, Tesla is supposed to form a committee to oversee other terms of the SEC settlement, and institute controls over both the company’s and Elon Musk’s statements about Tesla on Twitter and elsewhere.
The new independent board directors will need to be voted onto the board by shareholders before they are officially appointed.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
WATCH:
Robyn Denholm replaces Elon Musk as Tesla’s board chair
