Tesla's Elon Musk says he is 'thinking of quitting' his jobs

[December 11, 2021]  (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is "thinking of" leaving his jobs and becoming an influencer, the world's richest man tweeted on Thursday.

"Thinking of quitting my jobs & becoming an influencer full-time wdyt," Musk said in the tweet, without elaborating.

It was not immediately clear if Musk, a prolific user of the social media platform, was being serious about quitting his roles.

Musk, who is also the founder and CEO of rocket company SpaceX, and leads brain-chip startup Neuralink and infrastructure firm The Boring Company, said during a conference call in January that he expects to be the CEO of Tesla for "several years."

"It would be nice to have a bit more free time on my hands as opposed to just working day and night, from when I wake up to when I go to sleep 7 days a week. Pretty intense."

Last month, he asked his followers on Twitter whether he should sell 10% of his stake in the electric-car maker, to which the majority agreed. He has sold shares worth nearly $12 billion since.

The billionaire is known for his Twitter banter and lively interactions with followers which have in the past raised regulatory and corporate governance questions, lawyers have said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters

Musk was fined $20 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for tweets in 2018 and was required to step down as chairman.

Howard Fischer, a partner at law firm Moses & Singer, said he doubted Musk's latest tweets violated any rules because they were too vague.

He added: "I think that Musk’s social media comments are subject to a substantial discount, as it were, by the market, as compared to other executives."

(Reporting by Sonia Cheema in Bengaluru and Katanga Johnson in Washington DC; additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Michelle Price and Nick Zieminski)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.