Larry Ellison will not return to the Tesla board, the automaker said in a 14A filing with the SEC yesterday.
In the filing, which was released on June 10, Tesla announced that Larry Ellison, a board member and close friend of CEO Elon Musk’s, would be stepping down from his position.
“In June 2022, Lawrence J. Ellison, a Class III director, determined collectively with the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Board that he will not stand for re-election to the Board when his current term ends at the 2022 Annual Meeting,” Tesla said in the filing. “The Board currently expects to reduce the number of Board seats to seven upon the expiration of Mr. Ellison’s term at the 2022 Annual Meeting, and therefore votes or proxies may not be submitted for the election of more than two board seats.”
In December 2018, Ellison not only invested $1 billion into Tesla stock, but also was elected to the Board. Even before his 1-billion-dollar investment in Tesla in 2018, Ellison has been famously good friends with Musk. Ellison was even one of Musk’s backers in his purchase of Twitter, putting up $1 billion. Ellison has no other public connections with other automakers, nor any businesses related to them. The connection to Musk has certainly proved successful for Ellison, as since his investment in Tesla, the value of his holdings has increased by over 400%.
According to the filing, Ellison holds 15,290,975 shares, equating to a 1.5 percent ownership stake in the automaker.
Currently, it remains unclear as to why the Oracle executive chair has chosen to depart from the Tesla Board. However, the company holds high regard for his position and resume, stating:
“We believe that Mr. Ellison possesses specific attributes that qualify him to serve as a member of the Board, including his long-term leadership of one of the most successful technology companies in the world and experience with technology product development and strategy.”
Ellison will leave board members Kimbal Musk, Hiro Mizuno, James Murdoch, Robyn Denholm, Ira Ehrenerpis, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson.
Tesla also announced it would execute a 3:1 stock split in the filing.