整改期限已到,馬斯克和特斯拉從這一日起將大不同
2018年12月28日,特斯拉公司的董事會和埃隆·馬斯克的推特賬號迎來了一個(gè)新時(shí)代。 這一天是美國證券交易委員會給特斯拉下達(dá)的整改期限的最后一天。根據(jù)證交會要求,特斯拉要在整改期限內(nèi)增加兩名獨(dú)立董事,同時(shí)要采取一系列措施,更好地監(jiān)管馬斯克在社交媒體上的發(fā)言——比如成立一個(gè)董事會專業(yè)委員會,以及聘請一名證券律師,對公司高管在推特和其他社交媒體平臺上的重要發(fā)言進(jìn)行監(jiān)督等。 2018年9月,馬克斯的一條要將公司私有化的推文讓特斯拉惹上了官司。根據(jù)和解協(xié)議,馬斯克在社交平臺上的發(fā)言尤其要受到嚴(yán)格審查。按照證交會的要求,特斯拉已于2018年11月任命公司董事羅賓·丹霍爾姆接任董事長。 特斯拉和馬斯克為何會招來證交會的重拳打擊?這還要從馬斯克的一條推文說起。馬斯克曾經(jīng)在推特上公開宣稱,自己已經(jīng)獲得了在420美元的股價(jià)上將公司私有化的“資金保障”。美國證交會認(rèn)為,馬斯克在2018年8月7日發(fā)表的一系列相關(guān)推文屬于虛假宣傳,具有誤導(dǎo)性,并影響了特斯拉的股價(jià),其行為已經(jīng)涉嫌欺詐。馬斯克發(fā)聲當(dāng)日,特斯拉的股價(jià)上漲到了379.57美元,接近歷史最高紀(jì)錄。 在隨后的日子里,特斯拉的股票遭到拋售,截至2018年9月28日,也就是證交會起訴馬斯克的次日,特斯拉股價(jià)已經(jīng)暴跌至264.77美元。同時(shí),人們也愈加擔(dān)心馬斯克還能否繼續(xù)擔(dān)任CEO。不過第二天,馬斯克和特斯拉就選擇了與證交會和解。 馬斯克之怒 證交會給了特斯拉90天的整改期,對馬斯克的社交平臺發(fā)言實(shí)施管控。在整改期內(nèi),馬斯克曾經(jīng)公開批評證交會。關(guān)于他會改變推特發(fā)言習(xí)慣,以及關(guān)于他會受到董事會約束的說法,馬斯克也進(jìn)行了駁斥。 在2018年12月接受《60分鐘》采訪時(shí),馬斯克表示,他并不尊重證交會,他在推特上發(fā)貼時(shí),也沒有人來進(jìn)行審核。當(dāng)記者斯利·斯塔爾問道,如果這些貼子沒有事先被審核,特斯拉何以知道它們是否會對股市產(chǎn)生影響時(shí),馬斯克答道:“我想我們可能會犯些錯(cuò),誰知道呢?”后來他又補(bǔ)充道:“沒有人是完美的。” 馬斯克還表示,有人認(rèn)為丹霍爾姆會“監(jiān)視”他,這種說法是“不現(xiàn)實(shí)”的,因?yàn)樽约翰攀翘厮估畲蟮墓蓶|。他表示:“我可以召集一次股東投票,然后做任何我想做的事?!保ú贿^后來他報(bào)怨道,這部分采訪內(nèi)容被有選擇性地編輯了。) 惹禍的推文 2018年10月,馬斯克在推特上寫道,那幾條推文雖然讓他向證交會交了2000萬美元罰款,但那是“值得的”。他還發(fā)了幾條關(guān)于刪去他在特斯拉的有關(guān)頭銜的推文,并且拐彎抹角地諷刺了證交會。 在與證交會達(dá)成和解五天后,馬斯克稱證交會應(yīng)該改名叫“賣空者致富委員會”,并嘲諷地寫道,證交會在這上面“做了不可思議的工作”。 特斯拉的新獨(dú)董將加入一個(gè)長期以來被批評管理不善的董事會。 2018年11月,一個(gè)與工會有關(guān)聯(lián)的投資團(tuán)體與代表了四個(gè)州主要養(yǎng)老基金的官員致信特斯拉董事會成員,稱在董事會的八名非常務(wù)董事中,有五人與馬斯克有職業(yè)上或私人的關(guān)系。這些投資者要求,在證交會的和解條款之外,董事會還應(yīng)該采取其他措施限制馬斯克的權(quán)力,包括限期讓部分董事離職等。 法務(wù)地震 自從馬斯克招惹了證交會,幾個(gè)月間,特斯拉的法務(wù)部門也經(jīng)歷了幾次地震。 2018年12月初,曾經(jīng)代表馬斯克與證交會打官司的華盛頓律師戴恩·布茨溫卡斯被任命為特斯拉的法務(wù)總顧問。此前擔(dān)任這一職務(wù)的托德·馬龍?jiān)谔厮估Яξ迥旰螅?018年1月離職。托德·馬龍?jiān)诩用颂厮估?,曾?jīng)代理過兩場馬斯克的離婚官司。 2018年11月,特斯拉法務(wù)部副總裁菲爾·羅森伯格離職,去了一家名叫Sonder的酒店業(yè)初創(chuàng)公司擔(dān)任法務(wù)顧問。羅森伯格在加盟特斯拉前曾經(jīng)在證交會工作過。 誹謗官司 2018年7月,馬斯克因在推特上稱英國的一位洞穴探險(xiǎn)者是“戀童癖”,而被對方以誹謗為名告上了法庭。馬斯克的一名代理律師試圖如此輕描淡寫地淡化他的推文的殺傷力。 2018年12月20日,為說服法院撤案,馬斯克的這名律師稱,馬斯克的侮辱性言論并非是陳述一個(gè)事實(shí),而是屬于“在社交媒體上上演了一出小學(xué)生似的嘴仗”。沒有人會合理地相信,馬斯克會私下知道這位英國探險(xiǎn)家弗農(nóng)·昂斯沃思喜歡小孩子,或者喜歡與小孩子發(fā)生性行為。 馬斯克的這位名叫約翰·韋斯頓的律師表示,推特是一個(gè)“以謾罵和夸張著稱的社交平臺”,并稱它“充斥著幼稚的言論”。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:樸成奎 |
It begins a new age for Tesla Inc.’s board and Elon Musk’s Twitter feed on December 28, 2018. It’s the deadline the Securities and Exchange Commission set for the electric-car maker to add two new independent directors, plus take a series of steps to better check its volatile chief executive officer’s presence on social media. Those measures include setting up a board committee and employing a securities lawyer to oversee governing senior executives’ tweets and posts on other platforms that are material to the company. Musk’s communications, in particular, are required to be more closely scrutinized under the agreement Tesla reached in September 2018 to settle a lawsuit over the CEO’s tweets about taking the company private. The carmaker already complied with the SEC’s order to name a new chairman by tapping existing director Robyn Denholm to take over from Musk in November 2018. The SEC moved to punish Tesla and Musk because it alleged he committed fraud by tweeting that he had the “funding secured” to take the company private at $420 a share. The agency said this and other claims the CEO made on Aug. 7, 2018 were false and misleading and impacted Tesla’s stock, which closed that day at $379.57, just short of a record. The shares sold off within days and plunged to $264.77 by Sept. 28, 2018, the day after the SEC sued Musk and raised the prospect of banning him from being CEO. He and Tesla settled the following day. Musk’s Bristling During the 90 days that the SEC gave Tesla to implement procedures and controls to oversee Musk’s communications, the CEO has publicly lambasted the agency and bristled at the notion that he’ll change his Twitter habits or be reined in by the board. In an interview with “60 Minutes” aired December 2018, Musk said he didn’t respect the agency and that no one was reviewing his posts before he sent them. When asked by correspondent Lesley Stahl how Tesla would know if his tweets would move the market if they weren’t being read beforehand, Musk replied: “Well, I guess we might make some mistakes. Who knows?” He added: “Nobody’s perfect.” Musk also said it was “unrealistic” to think that Denholm would watch over him, noting that he’s Tesla’s largest shareholder. “I can just call for a shareholder vote and get anything done that I want,” he said. (He complained later that this portion of the interview was selectively edited.) Troublesome Tweets In October 2018, Musk wrote that the tweets that cost him a $20 million penalty paid to the SEC were “worth it.” He also sent cryptic posts about deleting his titles at Tesla and obliquely needled the agency in the process. Five days after reaching the settlement, Musk referred to the SEC as the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission” and mockingly wrote that it was “doing incredible work.” Tesla’s new independent directors will join a board that’s been long criticized for poor governance. November 2018, a union-affiliated investor group and officials representing major pension funds in four states sent a letter to board members noting that five of the eight non-executive directors on the board had professional or personal ties to Musk. The investors pushed for Tesla’s board to go beyond the terms of the SEC’s settlement by setting timelines for some directors to leave, among other measures. Legal Shakeup Tesla’s legal department has been going through shakeups in the months since Musk’s run-in with the SEC. The company tapped Dane Butswinkas, the Washington trial lawyer who represented the CEO in his legal battle with the agency, earlier December 2018 to become general counsel. He’ll replace Todd Maron, who’s leaving Tesla in January 2018 after five years. Before he joined the company, he represented Musk through two divorces. And in November 2018, Phil Rothenberg, a vice president on Tesla’s legal staff, left to became general counsel at Sonder, a hospitality startup. Rothenberg previously worked at the SEC. Defamation Defense For all the hubbub over Musk’s tweeting, a lawyer representing Musk in a defamation lawsuit brought by a cave explorer he called a pedophile in July 2018 is downplaying how seriously the public takes some of his client’s posts. In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed on December 20, 2018, Musk’s lawyer said his client’s insults weren’t intended to be statements of fact but were made in the middle of a “schoolyard spat on social media.” No one would reasonably believe he had private knowledge that the British cave explorer, Vernon Unsworth, was attracted to children or engaged in sexual activity with them, his lawyer wrote. Musk’s lawyer, John Hueston, referred to Twitter as “a social networking website infamous for invective and hyperbole” and said that it is “rife with sophomoric commentary.” |