Martin Viecha, Tesla’s former vice president of investor relations, announced Tuesday that he was leaving the electric car company after seven years. His departure marks the third departure of a top executive at the challenged automaker in less than two weeks.
Viecha replaced Tesla senior vice president Drew Baglino, who resigned from the company last week. Baglino was one of only four appointed executive officers at Tesla and led the engineering and technology development for the car’s batteries. Baglino had been with the company for 18 years and was well known to investors and analysts. In addition, Rohan Patel, the company’s vice president of public policy and business development, said he would part ways with Tesla.
Viecha made his comments at the end of first-quarter earnings reports that many saw as a crucial crossroads for the company after its worst quarter in four years. The call featured a more muted presence from CEO Elon Musk, who was supposed to reassure investors about Tesla’s future. Many of those investors are said to have worked closely with Viecha, who confirmed his departure in messages X and LinkedIn.
“About a month ago I spoke with Elon and [chief financial officer] Vaibhav [Taneja], to announce that I will be retiring from the world of investor relations and moving on,” Viecha said in his post. “Working for Tesla over the past seven years has been the greatest privilege of my professional life.”
Viecha said he is leaving to “take a break and spend a lot of time with my family.”
While Tesla’s earnings call was encouraging for investors and sent its sagging shares up more than 12% in after-hours trading, the exits have roiled some Tesla investors critical of Musk. Particularly because Viecha had solid relationships with Tesla’s investors, including those who were baffled by some of Musk’s behavior.
Speaking CNBCWedbush technology analyst Dan Ives said Tesla needed an “adult in the room” and Musk took the opportunity today. However, Ross Gerber cautioned that Ives and others should not weigh Musk’s performance on the call too heavily with other signals from the company, including executive departures.
“Dan, you’re ignoring the end of the call now that Martin is stepping down,” said Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management. “You and I have been working with Martin for a long time and he is the glue between management and the shareholders and investors.”
Yet another executive leaving the company, especially during such a delicate time in its history, could indicate a pattern, according to Gerber. Musk “continues to lose seasoned top executives during this really important transition and I find that concerning,” Gerber said.
However, he noted that he agrees with the vision Musk outlined, but hopes for a stronger alignment between Musk’s talk about his vision and the reality at the automaker.
“The monkey in the room is that there is no demand for the vehicles, even though they are flying,” Gerber says.