Elon Musk uses Twitter 'wisely,' says Tesla's new chair

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Elon Musk uses Twitter 'wisely,' says Tesla's new chair

Robyn Denholm

flickr/CEBIT AUSTRALIA

Robyn Denholm has been Tesla's chair since November 2018.

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  • Tesla chair Robyn Denholm said on Wednesday that she thinks Elon Musk uses Twitter "wisely."
  • Denholm was appointed chair in November after Musk was forced to step down by the SEC as part of his settlement with the agency over his infamous "funding secured" tweet.
  • She also defended Musk over his more recent clash with the SEC over a tweet in which he falsely claimed Tesla would make 500,000 cars in 2019.

Tesla's new chair Robyn Denholm has said that she believes CEO Elon Musk uses Twitter "wisely."

In an interview following a speech in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, Denholm said Twitter is a fact of life for executives, according to Bloomberg.

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"Twitter is part of everyday business for many executives today... From my perspective, he uses it wisely," she said after her appearance at the American Chamber of Commerce.

She added that Musk is not a challenge to corporate governance of Tesla. "I don't think he poses any challenges... The company is running very well and the board itself is very engaged. We meet with him all the time," she said.

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Denholm was previously a director at Tesla before replacing Musk as chair in November, following his clash with the SEC over his infamous "funding secured" tweet. As well as slapping Musk and Tesla with fines worth $20 million, the SEC barred him from being chair of the company for at least three years.

Read more: 10 things you need to know about the woman replacing Elon Musk as the chair of Tesla

Denholm has been on the Tesla board since 2014, and was named alongside the rest of the board in a lawsuit filed by a shareholder who claimed that they had neglected their "fiduciary duties" by failing to rein in Musk's erratic behaviour.

Musk has recently locked horns with the SEC over his Twitter habits once more, as the agency asked a judge to hold him in contempt of court over a February tweet, in which the Tesla CEO falsely claimed Tesla would make 500,000 cars in 2019.

The SEC said the tweet is in violation of its ruling following the "funding secured" debacle, which required that all of his communications with material information about the company be preapproved. Musk maintains that the tweet was not in breach of his settlement with the SEC, and has cited his First Amendment rights.

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During her interview, Denholm defended Musk. "We believe we've done everything that we need to do under the settlement, but obviously it's going to the court and it will go from there," she said.

A judge will hear arguments from Elon Musk's lawyers on April 4.

Get the latest Tesla stock price here.

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