Elon Musk Is the New ‘Technoking of Tesla’
The chief executive will retain his role while changing his title at the electric-vehicle maker
The chief executive will retain his role while changing his title at the electric-vehicle maker
Tesla Inc. said Chief Executive Elon Musk has changed his title at the company to “Technoking of Tesla,” extending an irreverent streak in the 49-year-old’s leadership of the electric-vehicle maker.
The company also said Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn will have the title of “Master of Coin.” Both Mr Musk and Mr Kirkhorn will maintain their respective positions as CEO and financial chief, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The company didn’t explain the meaning of the titles and didn’t respond to an inquiry. Mr Kirkhorn’s new title might carry echoes of Tesla’s ambitions around cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, Tesla said that it had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin and that it aims to start accepting bitcoin as payment from car buyers.
Over the weekend, bitcoin crossed $60,000 for the first time Saturday before falling back. A steady stream of institutional demand has been credited with driving much of bitcoin’s rally since the start of 2020, when it traded near $7,000.
Other companies have also embraced bitcoin in recent months. Square Inc., which shares bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey as its CEO with Twitter Inc., acquired about $50 million worth for its corporate treasury in October. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said it would start treating bitcoin like any other financial asset, and Mastercard Inc. said it would integrate bitcoin into its payments network this year.
Most job titles for corporate leaders conform to a narrow set of variations, but some Silicon Valley companies have previously used fanciful language to describe workers’ roles. For years, some companies have used terms such as “guru,” “jedi” or “ninja” to colour job descriptions that involve expertise or mental agility. Other colourful titles to emerge include chief happiness officer, chief futurist and chief digital evangelist.
Tesla disclosed the title changes amid signs of a bumpier road ahead than in 2020. Rivals are showing early signs of eating into its market-share lead in electric-vehicle sales. The company briefly shut down some of its car production at its lone U.S. plant last month due to parts shortages. Tesla also has said it expects lower Model S sedan and Model X sport-utility vehicle output this quarter as it introduces updated versions of the vehicles, though it is increasing output of its Model Y compact sport-utility vehicle in China.
Shares in Tesla soared more than 700% last year, then fell more than 25% earlier this month and are little changed for the year. The company last year achieved record car deliveries, posted its first full-year of profit and landed a spot on the S&P 500 index.
Mr Musk’s new title could be intended to reflect Tesla’s view that it is the source of technology disruption over the long term, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a research memo, pointing to the company’s autonomous-driving work and its strides in battery technology.
Mr Musk’s role as Tesla’s public face hasn’t kept him from pulling cheeky provocations. Breaking away from the mould of big-company CEOs who make carefully worded public statements, Mr Musk often posts Twitter messages with freewheeling thoughts about subjects ranging from Tesla’s share price to science-fiction topics and online memes.
Tweeting has gotten Mr Musk in trouble with regulators. In 2018 he announced on Twitter that he was considering plans to take the auto maker private, a claim later deemed misleading by the SEC after it became clear he didn’t have funding finalized for such a move.
He denied wrongdoing but eventually settled with a deal that included him giving up his position as chairman of Tesla and agreeing to have any of his Twitter messages relating to the auto maker’s business reviewed before publishing them.
Mr Musk’s ownership stake in the company helped him surpass Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man this year.
Also, Tesla on Monday named Jerome Guillen, who has run the company’s automotive business, as its president of Heavy Trucking. He oversaw the truck project in a previous role and, before joining Tesla in 2010, worked on trucks at Daimler AG.
The appointment comes as the car maker ramps up activity around its delayed semitrailer truck.
Tesla over the weekend tweeted a video of the electric cab driving on a test track. Mr Musk has said the supply of sufficient batteries has been holding back the truck. “If we were to make the Semi like right now, which we could easily go into production with the Semi, but we would not have enough cells for it right now,” Mr Musk said on the company’s latest earnings call in January.
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The government in Switzerland has waived residency requirements in a handful of locations, including one that’s growing fast.
While golden visa schemes proliferate, Switzerland remains famously protective about buying property in the country.
Rules known as Lex Koller, introduced in 1983, prohibit foreigners from buying homes in cities like Geneva and Zurich. And in the few locations where foreigners can buy, purchase permits come with rules around size and occupancy.
But non-Swiss buyers who have coveted an Alpine home now have a pathway to ownership, and it’s likely to come with financial upside. The Swiss government has waived residency requirements in a handful of locations where developers have negotiated exemptions in exchange for billions of dollars of investment in construction and improvements.
Andermatt, a village 4,715 feet above sea level in the centre of the Swiss Alps, is the largest municipality to open up to foreign buyers.
Its main investor, Egyptian magnate Samih Sawiris, “believed Andermatt could become a full-town redevelopment when he first visited in 2005, but the key was to offer real estate to people outside of Switzerland,” said Russell Collins, chief commercial officer of Andermatt-Swiss Alps, Sawiris’s development company.
“We became the only large-scale real estate development in Switzerland with an exemption from the Lex Koller regulations.”
In the ensuing decades, Andermatt has become a major draw for high-net-worth buyers from around the world, said Alex Koch de Gooreynd, a partner at Knight Frank in London and head of its Swiss residential sales team.
“What the Andermatt-Swiss Alps guys have done is incredible,” he said. “It’s an impressive resort, and there is still a good 10 years’ worth of construction to come. The future of the resort is very good.”
Andermatt’s profile got another boost from the 2022 acquisition of its ski and resort operations by Vail Resorts, which runs 41 ski destinations worldwide.
“Vail has committed to 150 million Swiss francs (US$175 million) in investments, which is another game-changer,” de Gooreynd said.
“If you’d asked me about Andermatt 10 years ago, I would have said the ski areas weren’t good enough of a draw.”
Along with the five-star Chedi Andermatt hotel and residences, which opened in 2013, residential offerings include the Gotthard Residences at the Radisson Blu hotel; at least six branded residences are planned to open by 2030, according to Jeremy Rollason, director for France, Switzerland, and Austria at Savills Ski.
“Most of these are niche, boutique buildings with anywhere from eight to 14 units, and they’re releasing them selectively to create interest and demand, which has been a very successful approach,” he said.
“Andermatt is an emerging destination, and an intelligent buy. Many buyers haven’t heard of it, but it’s about building a brand to the level of Verbier, Courchevel or Gstaad.”
The Alpinist, Andermatt’s third hotel residence, is slated to open in 2027; with 164 apartments, the five-star project will be run by Andermatt-Swiss Alps, according to Collins.
Other developments include Tova, an 18-unit project designed by Norwegian architects Snohetta, and La Foret, an 18-apartment building conceived by Swiss architects Brandenberger Kloter.
Prices in Andermatt’s new buildings range from around 1.35 million francs for a one-bedroom apartment to as much as 3.5 million francs for a two-bedroom unit, according to Astrid Josuran, an agent with Zurich Sotheby’s International Realty.
Penthouses with four or more bedrooms average 5 million-6 million francs. “Property values have been increasing steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 7.7% in the last 10 years,” she said.
“New developments will continue for the next 10 years, after which supply will be limited.”
Foreign buyers can obtain mortgages from Swiss banks, where current rates hover around 1.5% “and are declining,” Josuran said.
Compared to other countries with Alpine resorts, Switzerland also offers tax advantages, said Rollason of Savills. “France has a wealth tax on property wealth, which can become quite penal if you own $4 million or $5 million worth of property,” he said.
Andermatt’s high-end lifestyle has enhanced its appeal, said Collins of Andermatt-Swiss Alps.
“We have three Michelin-starred restaurants, and we want to create a culinary hub here,” he said. “We’ve redeveloped the main shopping promenade, Furkagasse, with 20 new retail and culinary outlets.
And there is a unique international community developing. While half our owners are Swiss, we have British, Italian and German buyers, and we are seeing inquiries from the U.S.”
But Andermatt is not the only Swiss location to cut red tape for foreign buyers.
The much smaller Samnaun resort, between Davos and Innsbruck, Austria, “is zoned so we can sell to foreigners,” said Thomas Joyce of Alpine property specialist Pure International.
“It’s high-altitude, with good restaurants and offers low property taxes of the Graubunden canton where it’s located.”
At the Edge, a new 22-apartment project by a Dutch developer, prices range from 12,000-13,500 francs per square metre, he said.
As Andermatt’s stature grows, this is a strategic time for foreigners to invest, said Josuran of Sotheby’s.
“It might be under the radar now, but it’s rapidly growing, and already among Switzerland’s most attractive ski locations,” she said. “Now’s the time to buy, before it reaches the status of a St. Moritz or Zermatt.”
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