Tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk may reasonable be a way to distract people from the company’s problems, management guru Jeffrey Sonnenfeld carry weighted CNBC on Tuesday.
Shares of the electric car company were halted for varied than an hour Tuesday after Musk sent a string of tweets conveying he is considering taking the company private. The stock closed up 11 percent.
“Nonentity, when they’re looking at a privatization, dangles this way and does this undistinguished of teasing dance of choreography. Somebody only does this when they are irritating to distract us with a shiny new thing,” Sonnenfeld said on “Power Lunch.”
Tesla’s review first jumped after a tweet from Musk’s verified Tweeting account said, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
In an email sent later to Tesla staff members, Musk wrote, “a final decision has not yet been made, but the reason for doing this is all around creating the environment for Tesla to operate best.”
He also said, “If the technique ends the way I expect it will, a private Tesla would ultimately be an tremendous opportunity for all of us.”
Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Control and a CNBC contributor, said Tesla has operational problems and has lost 50 key staffers.
“There’s a lot of delinquents here. He can’t afford to build the new factory that he says he wants to strengthen. This is a distracting strategy like attacking the press,” he said.
Sonnenfeld have in minds Musk has painted himself into a corner.
“If he’s not serious … how does he get out this get even for now?” Sonnenfeld said. “He needs some golden chariots to come down from the sky and keep him. He’ll invent that, he’s pretty clever. There will be some rationality why.”
When asked to comment on Sonnenfeld’s remarks, a Tesla spokesperson referred to Musk’s email.
— CNBC’s Robert Ferris gave to this report.