Telegraph
Electric car company Tesla has added Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson to its board as independent directors, after US authorities demanded changes to the business.
Mr Ellison, the founder of software company Oracle, and Ms Wilson-Thompson, the head of human resources at pharmaceutical company Walgreens Boots Alliance, both joined the board of Elon Musk's company earlier this week.
“In Larry and Kathleen, we have added a preeminent entrepreneur and a human resources leader, both of whom have a passion for sustainable energy,” Tesla’s board of directors wrote in a statement.
Whilst the two new members are meant to be independent and challenge decisions on the board, Mr Ellison has had a long standing relationship with Tesla’s founder Mr Musk.
Mr Ellison said at a financial analyst meeting at a conference in October: “I am very close friends to Elon Musk and I am a very big investor in Tesla." He also purchased 3m shares in the company earlier this year.
Tesla’s shares lifted around 2.2pc on the two appointments.
The electric car company was forced to make the additions to its board following actions by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this year.
In September, Mr Musk agreed to relinquish the chairman role, and remain as just chief executive, as well as pay $20m (£16m) to the SEC to avoid being charged with fraud for a tweet he sent, claiming he had "funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 a share.
Mr Musk's comments sparked a share frenzy, sending the stock as much as 11pc higher. By the close of play, Tesla's value had jumped by $6.3bn and Mr Musk was $1.2bn richer.
However, it later emerged that while investors had briefly discussed the possibility, funding was in fact not secured.
The SEC also forced Tesla to install an independent candidate to replace Mr Musk in the chairman role. He said that, despite having appointed Robyn Denholm to the post, as the largest shareholder he can still "get anything done that I want".
