Elon Musk is under siege.
The billionaire entrepreneur has been the object of public attacks for several weeks now by some of Tesla's major and most vocal retail shareholders.
The more the stock of the manufacturer of electric vehicles tumbles, the more the attacks of these individual shareholders redouble and become violent.
There is one that stands out: it is Leo KoGuan, a Chinese American investor. KoGuan claims to be Tesla's third largest retail shareholder after Musk himself and Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle (ORCL).
In recent days, KoGuan has been attacking Musk on a daily basis. He went, as he says himself, from a fan boy of the Techno king, Musk's title at Tesla (TSLA), to the No. 1 opponent of the CEO. He no longer hesitates to accuse Musk of wanting to destroy the value created at Tesla.
'If I Knew, I Wouldn't Invest in Tesla'
It should be noted that the serial entrepreneur has not yet responded to any attack from KoGuan. Tesla releases its 2022 fourth quarter results on Jan. 25. Until then, the executives of the company are required to observe a quiet period, as required by stock market regulation. They cannot discuss elements that could influence the share price.
"I am 100% in Tesla bc I believe in Elon Musk and Tesla," KoGuan wrote on Twitter on Jan. 7. "But he is killing SH and Tesla. If I knew I wouldn’t invest in Tesla."
"Elon invested ≈$200mm but took out $40B, Larry invested $1B, I invested over $3B, I have no choice but to act and speak out. I cry out to U for help!"
KoGuan's anger and revolt are due to Tesla's stock market rout. In 2022, Tesla stock lost 65% of its value, translating to more than $600 billion in market capitalization evaporated in a year. Tesla's market value is currently $357 billion, down from over $1 trillion at the start of 2022.
While Musk attributes this stock market disaster to macroeconomic factors like the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hike to fight inflation and the energy crisis in Europe, many Tesla shareholders, including KoGuan, believe that his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion is the big problem.
They claim that when Musk set his sights on the social media platform, he completely left Tesla behind. Worse, he has alienated many Tesla buyers by attacking progressives and Democrats on Twitter regularly.
"We want Elon back to Tesla, but has new seductive beauty named Twitter. Twitter is giving him 'dear leader' power that he craves to decide who wins, loses and dies," blasted, on Jan. 8, KoGuan, who invested about $3 billion in Tesla shares.
'Blind Cult Fanboys'
To a Twitter user pointing out that Musk had lost $200 billion in personal wealth on paper due to Tesla's stock market crash, KoGuan said that was not the case.
"No no no!" the investor responded. "Not only he abandoned Tesla, his capital is also disappeared! He’s the greatest financial genius of our time. He cashed out $40B, his investment in Tesla is not nil, zero, but negative -$39B, but he owns 13.4% + vested 304 million shares. Paper lost $200B is phantom."
"Correct," agreed Ross Gerber, another important Tesla shareholder who has criticized Musk in recent weeks. "Elon, hasn’t lost anything. He cashed out over $40 bil…"
KoGuan's revolt and his call for rebellion are nevertheless very badly taken by some Musk fans and members of the Tesla community. The latter defend the tech mogul and accuse the investor of hypocrisy. To which KoGuan responds by denouncing what he calls the cult of Musk.
"Everyday you tweeted about love and how you respect him," one Twitter user tweeted at KoGuan. "As soon as stock plunged you reveled your face . Hope stock goes lower so we can filter people like you."
"Dude, I am protecting blind cult fanboys from themselves," the investor responded. "I was his blind fanboy, but no more. I can’t rescue Tesla alone. We need all SH and Institutional fund managers to correct the anomaly of Tesla governance bc we love Tesla. We don’t abundant the one we love; we rescue it."
He believes the time has come to limit Musk's powers at Tesla. For him, the board of directors must play its role.
"Leo, with all due respect, rather than stirring a rebellion (which will fail), how about working on solutions?Given your share count, @MartinViecha can be reached and can convey your concerns to CEO and BoD? Pulling retail shareholders in this 'battle' feels inappropriate," tweeted at him a Twitter user who describes herself as a fan of Musk.
"I reached to both BOD and the one last year. We got unfulfilled promises. You, Elon’s fangirl, and Gary [Black, another Tesla shareholder] did petition for buyback but got the BOD and the one’s silent treatment," KoGuan responded.
"Desperate situation requires desperate move," he added. "We are hopeless. Doing nothing is not an option!"
BOD stands for board of directors. "The One" refers to Musk.
He repeated the same call for action on Jan. 8.
"I contacted the board and the one for about 1 year, what I got was nothing or at best only empty promises. Actually, from these interactions I found out Tesla is one man show company but it is no longer a family business. It is a public company with more than 100,000 employees."
KoGuan, however, plans to remain a large shareholder of Tesla.
"Here is my promise unless the great Captain Larry Ellison buys more Tesla shares, I plan to have about 50 million shares to become the 2nd largest individual shareholder of Tesla by 2026," the investor said. "I welcome blind cult followers competing w/me who will own the most shares by 2030?"
