X, owned by Elon Musk, reveals video featuring Don Lemon and Tulsi Gabbard

X, the social media platform previously identified as Twitter, has revealed a lineup of fresh video shows, one of which involves a collaboration with former CNN anchor Don Lemon. Lemon is set to be the host of a 30-minute program titled “The Don Lemon Show,” which will be broadcasted exclusively on X three times a week, marking its premiere on the platform.

X will also share new shows from sports radio commentator and former ESPN star Jim Rome and former US representative and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. The Rome show “will be streamed exclusively on X, five days a week,” the company posted. Gabbard shares “an exclusive series of documentary-style videos,” the company wrote.

San Francisco-based X did not share financial information. The partnerships are meant to add legitimacy to X’s revamped video, which owner Elon Musk has focused on. High-quality video content could also provide X more profitable advertising opportunities.

Elon Musk’s drug use puts the Tesla Board in a familiar position

Elon Musk’s reported drug use has left Tesla Inc. board members facing a familiar dilemma: deciding what, if anything, to do with the CEO, exposing executives and shareholders to major financial and legal risk.

The Wall Street Journal article detailing Musk’s history of recreational drug use and continued ketamine consumption is the latest in a long line of tests on a raft full of the CEO’s acolytes — several of whom less than six months ago had agreed to return $735 million. a lawsuit alleging they had overcompensated themselves.

Shareholders expressed displeasure with the board last year over Tesla’s succession planning, accusing Musk of being distracted by his commitments to other companies. His 2022 chaotic takeover of Twitter Inc., the social media company he renamed X Corp., contributed to Tesla losing $672 billion in market value that year.

Before that, executives settled lawsuits related to Musk’s devastating verdict in his bid to take Tesla private in 2018 and his calling a caver who helped save a youth soccer team in Thailand that year a pedophile. They also testified in lawsuits over a $55 billion compensation package they arranged for Musk in 2018 and a lawsuit challenging Tesla’s $2.6 billion purchase of SolarCity, the struggling power utility run by Musk’s cousins.

The Journal’s report — which says Musk has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties — isn’t even the Tesla board’s first brush with drug-related issues. Weeks after the New York Times reported in August 2018 that executives had raised concerns about Musk’s use of Ambien, he blew a marijuana-laced blunt on comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Lawsuit Rehu

Tesla’s board took little action after these episodes. It replaced Musk as chairman and appointed two new independent directors, as required by the settlement of fraud charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It could face more lawsuits over its handling of Musk’s drug use, said Stephen Diamond, who teaches business administration courses at Santa Clara University School of Law.

“This will give ammunition to class action lawyers on behalf of Tesla’s disgruntled shareholders if they can link the evidence of drug use to his actual role as a director,” Diamond said. “Tesla’s board has an obligation to find out what’s going on here.”

While Musk’s drug use may be hurting his other companies — notably Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a U.S. government contractor — he makes more of his fortune from Tesla than any other company. His shares and exercisable stock options are worth $97.6 billion, or about 44 percent of his $219.4 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“Whatever I’m doing, of course I should keep doing it!” Musk posted on X saying that Tesla and SpaceX are the most valuable automotive and space companies in the world. “If drugs really helped improve my net productivity over time, I’d definitely take them!”

Board breakdown

Tesla’s longest-serving executives are Musk, 52, and his younger brother Kimbal — both of whom have been on the board since 2004. Kimbal’s re-election to the board has faced pushback in recent years from investors who criticized his lack of industry experience. agent concerned with objectivity.

The trustees also opposed the 2022 re-election of venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis, who has served on the board since 2007. They cited concerns about the amount of debt Musk and other executives are borrowing against Tesla stock and the half-measure the board took in response to a shareholder proposal for annual board elections that won majority support in 2021.

The only other relatively long-time executive on the board is Robyn Denholm, who joined in 2014 and became chairman in 2018. Months after her ascension, which came as the SEC sued Musk and Tesla over his takeprivate tweet, she praised Musk’s use of the social media platform.

“Twitter is a part of everyday business for many executives today,” Denholm said in a March 2019 interview. “From my perspective, he’s using it wisely.”

Tesla’s other four executives are James Murdoch, the former CEO of 21st Century Fox, who was appointed in 2017; Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, former human resources director at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., who joined in 2018; and Joe Gebbia and JB Straubel, who were elected to the board last year. Gebbia was one of the founders of Airbnb Inc. and Straubel is the founder of Tesla.

Musk has close ties to Murdoch, Gebbia and Straubel. While testifying in Delaware Chancery Court about his 2022 Tesla compensation package, the CEO repeatedly asked the plaintiff’s attorney questions about vacationing with Murdoch.

When Musk tweeted that he was trying to take Tesla private, Gebbia texted his praise, calling it a “ball move.” The ties between Musk and Straubel go back to the founding of Tesla in 2003.

D&O insurance

Although Tesla’s executives have been well-paid, being a board member has been risky at times. In April 2020, the company announced that it had decided not to renew its directors’ and officers’ liability policy due to high premiums from insurance companies. Musk agreed to provide the coverage personally, which the board said would not undermine the directors’ independent judgment.

After initially receiving a year-long arrangement, Tesla revealed in October 2020 that it had taken out standard insurance for its directors and officers. It paid Musk $3 million for the 90-day interim security he provided.

Musk’s reported drug use could temporarily hit Tesla shares, said Gene Munster, CEO of Deepwater Asset Management. But those who have endured the CEO’s antics have been rewarded—the stock is up 1,168% since Musk’s September 2018 announcement of marijuana.

“A small percentage of investors will sell their shares over the next week and put pressure on stocks,” Munster said on Sunday. “Most investors don’t care because it falls into the category of, if you want to profit from Elon, you have to put up with his controversy.”

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