Top Tesla Investors Criticize Musk, Compares Him to Kim Jong Un

[Business Post] Even the biggest shareholder in Tesla cannot get his concerns heard by the company’s board. Leo KoGuan, who invested more money into Tesla than anyone in the world, made a sharp criticism of Tesla’s irresponsible governance and decision-making process.

KoGuan called Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, a ‘Dear Leader’, likening him to the former supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Il.

On the 30th (local time), electric vehicle specialist media Electrek reported that Chinese entrepreneur Leo KoGuan has been asking the board for an explanation about the lack of oversight on how Musk dumped his Tesla shares on the open market, but he hasn’t been heard by the board for over a year.

He had requested an explanation for Musk’s disposal of all Tesla shares for $40 billion (approximately 53 trillion 4020 billion KRW) in several stages to raise funds for the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022.

Leo KoGuan, also the founder of cybersecurity company SHI International, is the third-largest individual shareholder in Tesla, having invested $3.5 billion (approximately 4 trillion 6700 billion KRW).

The individual investor with the largest stake is Tesla founder Elon Musk, followed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Although Musk is the largest shareholder in terms of stake, KoGuan is a larger investor in terms of amount as he invested in Tesla when its corporate value was higher than when Musk invested.

Despite being a major investor, KoGuan was unable to hear the board’s explanation on major decisions, such as the CEO’s sale of company shares, that could significantly impact the stock price.

He told Electrek, “Tesla is a family business masquerading as a public company.”

He further argued, “Individual shareholders who put money into Tesla are like adopted children, closer to say abused adopted children if they are not direct family members.”

In fact, both Musk himself and his brother Kimbal Musk are members of the board of directors who make major decisions for Tesla.

The other six directors are also close acquaintances of Musk, such as Ira Ehrenpreis and James Murdoch, who have been long-time friends of the CEO. Tesla has been criticized by shareholders for the lack of independence of its board of directors.

KoGuan also pointed out that the Tesla board is centered around family and friends, referring to Elon Musk as a ‘Dear Leader’.

According to Electrek, this English term is generally used in English-speaking societies to refer to North Korea’s former Defense Committee Chairman Kim Jong-Il. In other words, he sarcastically referred to Musk as a dictator of Tesla. Reporter Lee Geun-ho