Tesla's biggest investor says the company's chairwoman gives Elon Musk 'emotional' support so he can focus on leading the company
- Tesla's biggest investor, Baillie Gifford, believes it's a "better-run" company these days, thanks in large part to Tesla's chairwoman.
- James Anderson, head of global equities for the firm, told the Financial Times that Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm provides "emotional" support for CEO Elon Musk.
- Denholm, one of two women on Tesla's board, has been there since 2014 and is the only board member besides Musk with automotive experience.
- She was named chairwoman in 2018 following Musk's infamous "funding secured" tweet and the subsequent settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Tesla's biggest institutional investor believes the company is in better shape these days thanks to the "emotional" support its chairwoman is providing CEO Elon Musk.
James Anderson, the head of global equities for Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford, Tesla's biggest shareholder, said in an interview with the Financial Times that he feels "more comfortable" these days, thanks in large part to the changes Tesla has made to its board in recent years.
Baillie Gifford owns a 7.5% stake in Tesla, which is worth about $9.7 billion. The firm considered selling part of its stake last year, reportedly convening an internal assessment called "Devil's Advocate" to help it decide.
"We thought he was getting things wrong," Anderson told the FT, but the firm is now bullish on Tesla and Musk, saying it's a "better run" company these days.
He pointed specifically to Chairwoman Robyn Denholm, who he said has given Musk "'emotional' support and allowed him to focus on leading the company," according to the FT.
Denholm has been on Tesla's board since 2014 and was named chairwoman in 2018 after Musk was stripped of the title following his infamous "funding secured" tweet and the subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and settlement. Denholm previously worked at telecoms company Telstra, where she was chief financial officer, and worked at Toyota in Australia for seven years. Of Tesla's eight board members besides Musk, Denholm is the only one with any automotive experience. There is one other woman on Tesla's board: Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, the former global head of human resources for Walgreens Boots Alliance.
At the time of Denholm's appointment, analysts were hoping for a board chair who could keep Musk in check following his erratic Twitter use. Beyond the tweet that attracted the attention of the SEC, Musk referred to a British cave diver working on the Thai cave rescue in 2018 as a "pedo guy" on Twitter, which resulted in a defamation suit (Musk was cleared in 2019.)
"Twitter is part of everyday business for many executives today," Denholm said in 2019, shortly after she was named chair of the board. "From my perspective, he uses it wisely."
