A Tesla board of directors member who departed from a committee position in March has alleged that he discussed selling a house to CEO Elon Musk, according to one publication this week.
Airbnb co-founder and Tesla board of directors member Joe Gebbia allegedly discussed having Musk purchase a house from his start-up, as stated to Reuters in a report on Monday. Gebbia departed from a board committee in March that played a key role in Tesla’s future, and he told the publication that he had been worried he and Musk’s friendship could be weaponized to criticize the committee’s independence.
Gebbia was one of just two directors on the board who was considered indendent enough to be apart of the special committee, which has reportedly played a key role in the board’s decision to propose moving incorporation from Delaware to Texas—after Musk’s 2018 compensation package was struck down by a judge in the state in January.
The board member owns the start-up Samara, which manufactures tiny pre-fab homes and has apparently discussed building one for Musk. Following the board’s expandsion of the upcoming proposals from the re-incorporation measure to also include the vote on Musk’s compensation plan, Gebbia stepped down from the committee, as shown in a regulatory filing.
Gebbia was also joined by former Walgreens Boots Alliance Chief of Human Resources Kathleen Wilson-Thompson on the special committee, according to the filing. In it, Gebbia also wrote that he departed from the committee “out of an abundance of caution,” noting that the “potential business transaction” was also “currently on hold,” at the time of the filing.
“I did not want Elon’s status as a potential customer of Samara to be used against the committee, so I disclosed that I had put that potential business transaction on hold,” Gebbia said.
“I believed I was and am independent, but decided to step down because I did not want my relationship with Elon to be used to unfairly attack the committee,” he added.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
