“I can’t tolerate a servant more than me”… There is no second-in-command in the “Musk Empire” [백수전의 ‘테슬람이 간다’] By Hankyung

Elon Musk Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO leaves federal court in Manhattan after settling fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during a trial in New York City in April 2019. At left is the Musk’s closest aide, Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX. Shotwell played the role of “Musk’s shadow” thoroughly to the point that he rarely appeared together with Musk in public. “I will step down as CEO of Twitter as soon as I find someone inconsiderate to take over.”

It’s been a stormy couple of months for both Twitter and Tesla investors. On the 20th (local time), Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his intention to step down as CEO of Twitter. He walked into Twitter HQ with a bathroom sink saying, “The bird has been released,” and walked out after two months in a sleazy fashion.

Although he has proposed a “free communication space”, Musk has proposed a “freer communication space” as the goal of the Twitter acquisition. His actions, however, sparked a strong political backlash. Musk has revived former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, which had been permanently suspended over allegations of inciting an invasion of the federal Capitol. During the midterm elections, he openly declared his support for the Republican Party, meeting opposition from the opposite camp.

Reports by journalists such as the New York Times (NYT), the Washington Post (WP) and CNN, who wrote articles critical of this move, were suspended in droves, but canceled as public opinion worsened. Finally, on the 19th, a vote for and against “should I resign as Twitter representative” was sent to Twitter.

Tesla fans and investors, who had consistently supported Musk’s move, also turned away. During this period, Tesla stock fell to $125.35 (closed on the 22nd), its lowest level in two years. That’s a decline of more than 64% this year. During the same period, the Nasdaq index fell only 32%, so the disappointment of “Teslam” is bound to be big. Tesla Stock Performance This Year / Photo = Yahoo Finance Who will be Twitter’s next CEO? It is the will to reduce political risks and not to lose the technological leadership of SNS. WP said, “Musk still wants to control Twitter.” Musk fired all executives and directors shortly after the Twitter takeover, leaving himself as sole director.

Who will be the next CEO to take on the “reckless mission” to lead Twitter with the “King of kings” Musk? CNN cited David Sacks, former COO of PayPal, Jason Kalakanis, who advised Musk as an IT company angel investor, and Sriram Krishnan, a former Twitter executive, as potential candidates. Elon Musk Tesla CEO / Photo = REUTERS Sacks is a member who founded PayPal with Musk. Of the three candidates, he can be seen as closest to Musk. Calakanis advised Musk on Twitter’s job cuts and publicly announced in April that he hoped to become Twitter’s CEO. At Twitter, Krishnan led a team responsible for platform features like search and timeline. CNN rated him as “the most stable candidate as he is a former Twitter executive”.

Among Tesla fans, Rex Friedman, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and who runs an IT podcast, ran as a candidate. Friedman is an influencer who made a name for himself in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), after interviewing Musk and former Tesla AI director Andrei Karpati. Friedman even offered Musk to take over as CEO of Twitter without pay. Rex Friedman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researcher and IT podcast host (left). His YouTube subscribers reach 2.48 million. /Photo = Rex Friedman YouTube Musk’s “executive talent” is Musk’s intention. He wrote on Twitter on the 19th: “The problem is not finding a CEO, but finding a CEO who will ‘keep Twitter alive'”. On the 21st, he said, “Over the past five weeks, we’ve improved Twitter’s financial situation with crazy cost reductions,” and said, “We’ll break even next year.” Twitter, which was dying thanks to him, is said to have come to life and needed someone to succeed it.

Experts believe that Twitter will establish a management command structure like SpaceX, a private space company. SpaceX’s largest shareholder and CEO is Musk. But the actual management is handled by Gwynn Shotwell, president and chief operating officer. After Musk founded SpaceX in May 2002, he hired Shotwell as a sales executive in September of that year. After being promoted to president in 2008, Shotwell led SpaceX for more than 10 years. SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynn Shotwell speaks during a TED Talk in Vancouver, Canada in 2018. /Photo = TED Shotwell’s sales skills were outstanding. In the male-dominated aerospace industry, her good looks and brilliant brain attracted attention. Shotwell has worn down the thresholds of the Department of Defense, the Army and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lobby to sell a “Falcon 1” rocket that has not yet been built. I went to the lobby on behalf of Musk, who was unfamiliar with negotiating with high-ranking officials. “I was well aware of the slow pace of the conservative space industry. Musk’s momentum was scary, but I finally joined the challenge” (Eric Berger “Lift Off”)

Unlike plain Musk, the soft-spoken Shotwell has won the hearts of people in the industry. In 2006, he won a NASA rocket contract worth $278 million (about $356 billion) to save the company. This money became the very fund of the “embers” of Musk’s dream of going to Mars. With this level of performance, he deserved to get involved. Rather, he praised the boss about him. “Everything was done by Elon. His vision has driven the company.” Even when Musk has faced all sorts of lawsuits and criticisms, Shotwell has always stood by him. Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a Gigafactory conference in Sparks, Nevada, USA , in July 2016. At right is JB Straubel, CTO and co-founder.”don’t go to the forefront” Most Tesla and SpaceX executives sympathize with Musk’s vision and respect his leadership Many wanted to get closer to the cantankerous “genius boss,” but they feared he might change his mind and fire them.Musk was cold when even loyal executives were challenged to differ from his own.

JB Straubel, former chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder of Tesla, was an aide who understood Musk’s character better than anyone. He served as a bridge to convey messages from Tesla employees to Musk. Straubel also stayed with Shotwell as ‘Shadow of Musk’ (Ashley Barnes 《Theory Musk, Designer of the Future》).

He said in an interview with Barnes that he tries to be as out of step as possible. “I try to convince people of Elon’s goals and vision. After all, Elon is my boss. He is running his business with blood, sweat and tears. I admire Elon’s accomplishments so far. Without Theory, it would never have happened.

→Continue to part 2

▶ “Teslam goes”

We will reveal the story behind Tesla, who will lead the “mobility revolution” in the 2020s. Elon Musk, rated the best “visionary CEO,” is also a big research target. Introducing news and issues from domestic and overseas Tesla YouTubers and Twitter users. Subscribe to the reporter page below to receive weekly articles.

Reporter Sujeon Baek jerry@hankyung.com

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