Investor Group Calls for Management Changes at Tesla

An investor group representing several pension funds has asked Tesla Motors Inc. to add two independent directors and separate the CEO and chairman roles currently held by founder Elon Musk.

Washington, D.C.-based CtW Investment Group also wants the independent directors to assess Musk’s plan to buy solar panel maker SolarCity Corp. for $2.8 billion in stock. Musk chairs both companies and is their largest shareholder.

Musk claims combining the two companies makes sense because many buyers of Tesla electric vehicles also may be interested in solar energy. Skeptical investors have questioned the connection and say combining the two money-losing companies is a bad idea.

CtW, which owns 200,000 shares of Tesla, says structural changes at the carmaker are needed to better protect stockholder interests related to the proposed acquisition and future decisions.

The group also is urging a change in Tesla’s bylaws that would eliminate different term lengths for board members and forbid relatives of directors from sitting on the board concurrently. Musk’s brother Kimbal is a Tesla board member.