Elon Musk Has Stepped Aside As CEO Of Tesla Company 

A strong advocate of Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, is no longer regarded by the billionaire as the company’s leader.

As an investor and advisor for years, Ross Gerber, president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, told CNBC on Thursday that Musk has “already stepped aside” as the CEO of the electric vehicle company.

Gerber claimed that even though Musk hasn’t officially left the position, his ongoing remarks and involvement with X—the business that Musk bought a year ago and was formerly known as Twitter—indicate how disengaged he is from Tesla.

“This isn’t about me calling on him to step aside; he has stepped aside,” Gerber said on CNBC’s “Last Call.” “None of his actions are to benefit Tesla. He thinks in some weird world that what he says matters, but what he’s really doing is destroying everything he built.”

“He is not acting as the CEO of Tesla right now,” Gerber added.

Despite stating that he does not intend to sell his 420,000 shares of Tesla stock, Gerber is receiving more requests than ever from clients to sell their investments in the business.

“I’ve never had this with any company I’ve invested in in my entire life, where the CEO does so many detrimental things that destroy the brand, because bottom line, that’s what’s happening. It’s absolutely outrageous—his behaviors and the damage he’s caused to the brand.”

When Business Insider asked Tesla representatives for a response regarding Gerber’s remarks, they did not come back right away. An X executive referred Business Insider to a recent post made by Linda Yacaccarino, the CEO of the platform.

Gerber made his remarks in response to Musk’s antisemitic remarks on X, in which he stated that “Jewish communities” were instigating “hatred against whites.”

According to the user, Western Jewish people had been aiding the “hordes of minorities” that were overrunning their nations, but they had recently come to the “disturbing realization” that these minorities weren’t particularly fond of them.

Musk replied to the antisemitic post with, “You have said the actual truth.” In additional posts and comments, Musk expressed his opinion that American students were being taught “utter nonsense” regarding the nation’s historical involvement in slavery.

He also agreed with a post that made reference to the fallacious notion of “reverse racism,” which is the widely disregarded theory that white people are subjected to supposed discrimination.

In response to the remarks, Musk faced immediate criticism from IT leaders and one advertiser, among others.

For the final three months of the year, IBM generated about $1 million in revenue from online advertisements, according to a report by The New York Times.

IBM confirmed the reports to Business Insider and stated, “We have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.” The company also stated that it “has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination.”

Musk’s remarks have also drawn criticism from a few tech executives.

In a post on Threads, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz urged Musk to step down, and Marc Bodnick, a co-founder of Wavelength, stated that “Elon’s antisemitism is still shocking.”

Due to Musk’s remarks, Gerber earlier on Thursday stated on X that he intends to trade in his Model Y Tesla for a Rivian.

Musk once defended himself against accusations that he was antisemitic by referring to himself as “aspirational Jewish.”

At times, it seemed like he was specifically targeting the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with his complaints, threatening to sue the nonprofit after it revealed the increase in hate speech on X following Musk’s takeover.

Thursday afternoon, Yaccarino stated that X has “been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination.”

“There’s no place for it anywhere in the world—it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop,” she wrote.