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From the article: The son of Fox mogul Rupert Murdoch, he joined Tesla’s board in July 2017 after years of work with media companies. He has no experience in ma

From the article: The son of Fox mogul Rupert Murdoch, he joined Tesla’s board in July 2017 after years of work with media companies. He has no experience in manufacturing and has never led a company that makes cars or electric vehicles. What exactly does this guy bring to the table for Tesla? Money? Connections?

deleted 8y ago
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thrill 8y ago
Knowledge of how to lead.
- starsinspace 8y ago
  But lead where? Without domain knowledge..?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
celticninja 8y ago
Murdoch and his family are poisonous, this won't help Tesla in the long run but might help.then with the SEC in the short run.
- obpacheco 8y ago
  They're also brilliant businessmen who have built the most successful news empire in America
  - pulisse 8y ago
    The father might fit that description, but none of the second generation who've taken roles in the family business have distinguished themselves.
    - obpacheco 8y ago
      Ya I honestly have no idea of what every individual in their family has achieved but I guess James is up to bat for Tesla, I hope he can make some positive reforms in the work culture as well as keep working to increase the market share of electric cars
  - coliveira 8y ago
    Maybe the father, the sons are not better than leeches.
buboard 8y ago
brexit
compcoffee 8y ago
>What exactly does this guy bring to the table for Tesla? Money? Connections? Already an insider within the company. You think anyone actually wants to deal with Musk?
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threeseed 8y ago
James Murdoch has been on the board for a while and is very good friends with Elon Musk. So this brings a sympathetic chairman who isn't going to crack down on Musk's erratic behaviour. This goes completely against the intent of the SEC agreement and I would not expect this to be the end of it.
hawski 8y ago
Weren't the same mostly applying to Musk? SpaceX certainly counts more for manufacturing, but in case of cars it's quite a different thing I would imagine. I don't have horses in this race.
awad 8y ago
That's not how boards generally work. They're there for corporate governance and, in this case, to make sure the company is hiring the right people experienced in manufacturing and EVs... As an example, here is the board of directors for General Motors: https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors.html https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors... Not exactly a lot of car building experience.
- joe_the_user 8y ago
  Looking at the GM board of directors, I see: - Former GM officials, - Ex-managers of defense companies. They build machines too, right. - Ex-joint chiefs of staff and business school head. They know management. - Insurance and such. GM has a large workforce and managing that a good portion of activity. Newscorp is a large organization too, but it seems more different from Tesla than the US Army, Cummins or even an insurance company is different than GM. So on it's face, it seems like the board knows something about manufacturing and managing large organizations. With Jame Murdock, it seems likes you could say "know something about spin", which might not be comforting.
  - netsharc 8y ago
    IMO it's all about the connections. Defense people are probably very well connected in Washington. The Murdochs are scum, but hey, if you're a world leader and Rupert Murdoch calls, you pick up the phone. Tony Blair only became PM because he sucked up to Murdoch to gain his papers' endorsement.
  - awad 8y ago
    That's not a fair interpretation. Let's actually break it down... - Current CEO of GM - Former Lockheed-associated Director was VP in charge of Information Systems. Assuming that's deliverable product and not internal IT (which she also ran), not exactly making the planes - The former CEO of a drug manufacturer - The former CEO of Harvard Management Company (the endowment) - Retired Chairman of Joint Chiefs - Retired CEO of a big oil company - The Chairman of HP - Former CFO of Wal-Mart - Former CEO of Cummins (MOST adjacent business to GM vis engine mfg) - Former Dean of Ivey Business School, The University of Western Ontario - The CEO of eBay So, sure, we can reach and say that some of the individuals have tangential industry experience or we can say that they are on the board because they have high degrees of personal/economic success, presumably large rolodexes, and various levels of experience at the top of large organizations. I'm not taking a position on James Murdoch at all here, just pointing out that board members are not often subject matter experts of what a company produces so much as generally successful and influential people with various levels of business and leadership experience.
tyingq 8y ago
I assume "will do whatever Elon says" was the top requirement.
- sofaofthedamned 8y ago
  To be fair he's used to doing that from his father.
rjsw 8y ago
> What exactly does this guy bring to the table for Tesla? Money? Connections? Obviously his prior experience where he "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of as a chief executive and chairman" [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_scandal_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_sc...
dmode 8y ago
Should bring positive Tesla coverage in WSJ at least. WSJ has been hammering away at Tesla for the last 10 years.
cmroanirgo 8y ago
Wow. Elon to be replaced by this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_scandal_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_sc... If I were a shareholder, I'd be screaming out to keep hold of Elon rather than Mr Murdoch. In short: > On 7 July 2011, James Murdoch announced the closure of the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World in the wake of a phone hacking scandal.[23] Although everyone has the right to make mistakes, this was the man who closed a 168yr old newspaper based on illegal activities that seemed rife in the company. [23] https://www.theguardian.com/media/blog/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-live-coverage https://www.theguardian.com/media/blog/2011/jul/07/news-of-t... Based on what Mr Musk has already gone through, I don't think Mr Murdoch is what Tesla needs.
- Latteland 8y ago
  musk will still be the president and ceo , murdoch will be the chairman of the board.
bliblah 8y ago
>He has no experience in manufacturing and has never led a company that makes cars or electric vehicles. Did Elon have either before founding Tesla? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. The other option that this is a popularity contest and the position is mostly for forward facing purposes. I'm going to guess that Elon will continue to micromanage from the sidelines but if this is a coup it definitely sets the stage for some drama.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

thrill 8y ago

Knowledge of how to lead.

starsinspace 8y ago
But lead where? Without domain knowledge..?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

celticninja 8y ago

Murdoch and his family are poisonous, this won't help Tesla in the long run but might help.then with the SEC in the short run.

obpacheco 8y ago
They're also brilliant businessmen who have built the most successful news empire in America
- pulisse 8y ago
  The father might fit that description, but none of the second generation who've taken roles in the family business have distinguished themselves.
  - obpacheco 8y ago
    Ya I honestly have no idea of what every individual in their family has achieved but I guess James is up to bat for Tesla, I hope he can make some positive reforms in the work culture as well as keep working to increase the market share of electric cars
- coliveira 8y ago
  Maybe the father, the sons are not better than leeches.

buboard 8y ago

brexit

compcoffee 8y ago

>What exactly does this guy bring to the table for Tesla? Money? Connections? Already an insider within the company. You think anyone actually wants to deal with Musk?

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

threeseed 8y ago

James Murdoch has been on the board for a while and is very good friends with Elon Musk. So this brings a sympathetic chairman who isn't going to crack down on Musk's erratic behaviour. This goes completely against the intent of the SEC agreement and I would not expect this to be the end of it.

hawski 8y ago

Weren't the same mostly applying to Musk? SpaceX certainly counts more for manufacturing, but in case of cars it's quite a different thing I would imagine. I don't have horses in this race.

awad 8y ago

That's not how boards generally work. They're there for corporate governance and, in this case, to make sure the company is hiring the right people experienced in manufacturing and EVs... As an example, here is the board of directors for General Motors: https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors.html https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors... Not exactly a lot of car building experience.

joe_the_user 8y ago
Looking at the GM board of directors, I see: - Former GM officials, - Ex-managers of defense companies. They build machines too, right. - Ex-joint chiefs of staff and business school head. They know management. - Insurance and such. GM has a large workforce and managing that a good portion of activity. Newscorp is a large organization too, but it seems more different from Tesla than the US Army, Cummins or even an insurance company is different than GM. So on it's face, it seems like the board knows something about manufacturing and managing large organizations. With Jame Murdock, it seems likes you could say "know something about spin", which might not be comforting.
- netsharc 8y ago
  IMO it's all about the connections. Defense people are probably very well connected in Washington. The Murdochs are scum, but hey, if you're a world leader and Rupert Murdoch calls, you pick up the phone. Tony Blair only became PM because he sucked up to Murdoch to gain his papers' endorsement.
- awad 8y ago
  That's not a fair interpretation. Let's actually break it down... - Current CEO of GM - Former Lockheed-associated Director was VP in charge of Information Systems. Assuming that's deliverable product and not internal IT (which she also ran), not exactly making the planes - The former CEO of a drug manufacturer - The former CEO of Harvard Management Company (the endowment) - Retired Chairman of Joint Chiefs - Retired CEO of a big oil company - The Chairman of HP - Former CFO of Wal-Mart - Former CEO of Cummins (MOST adjacent business to GM vis engine mfg) - Former Dean of Ivey Business School, The University of Western Ontario - The CEO of eBay So, sure, we can reach and say that some of the individuals have tangential industry experience or we can say that they are on the board because they have high degrees of personal/economic success, presumably large rolodexes, and various levels of experience at the top of large organizations. I'm not taking a position on James Murdoch at all here, just pointing out that board members are not often subject matter experts of what a company produces so much as generally successful and influential people with various levels of business and leadership experience.

tyingq 8y ago

I assume "will do whatever Elon says" was the top requirement.

sofaofthedamned 8y ago
To be fair he's used to doing that from his father.

rjsw 8y ago

> What exactly does this guy bring to the table for Tesla? Money? Connections? Obviously his prior experience where he "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of as a chief executive and chairman" [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_scandal_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_sc...

dmode 8y ago

Should bring positive Tesla coverage in WSJ at least. WSJ has been hammering away at Tesla for the last 10 years.

cmroanirgo 8y ago

Wow. Elon to be replaced by this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_scandal_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murdoch#Phone_hacking_sc... If I were a shareholder, I'd be screaming out to keep hold of Elon rather than Mr Murdoch. In short: > On 7 July 2011, James Murdoch announced the closure of the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World in the wake of a phone hacking scandal.[23] Although everyone has the right to make mistakes, this was the man who closed a 168yr old newspaper based on illegal activities that seemed rife in the company. [23] https://www.theguardian.com/media/blog/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-live-coverage https://www.theguardian.com/media/blog/2011/jul/07/news-of-t... Based on what Mr Musk has already gone through, I don't think Mr Murdoch is what Tesla needs.

Latteland 8y ago
musk will still be the president and ceo , murdoch will be the chairman of the board.

bliblah 8y ago

>He has no experience in manufacturing and has never led a company that makes cars or electric vehicles. Did Elon have either before founding Tesla? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. The other option that this is a popularity contest and the position is mostly for forward facing purposes. I'm going to guess that Elon will continue to micromanage from the sidelines but if this is a coup it definitely sets the stage for some drama.