Yale Prof Blames Elon Musk For ‘Catastrophic Losses’ at Tesla

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a dean at the Yale School of Management, has come down heavily on the flamboyant Tesla CEO Elon Musk, holding him directly responsible for the electric car maker’s first-quarter loss.

Terming the loss as “catastrophic,” Sonnenfeld exhorted Tesla’s board to hold Musk responsible. The carmaker missed Wall Street estimates by four times over to the downside.

“When is the board going to wake up?” Sonnenfeld asked.

Taking a dig at the board by alluding to Tesla’s much-touted Autopilot feature, he remarked: “You know where they are? They do understand cruise control better than anybody else. The board is on ‘cruise control.’”

If that really is the case it would not be the first board that was on autopilot. Yet Sonnenfeld has a point.