Nov. 8, 2018—Tesla has appointed Robyn Denholm as chair of its board, replacing the electric carmaker’s billionaire founder Elon Musk, reported The Guardian.
Denholm, one of two female directors on the nine-member board, assumes her new position immediately, Tesla said in the report. The promotion will become full-time once she leaves her role as chief financial officer and head of strategy at Telstra, Australia’s largest telecom company, after her six-month notice period.
The 55-year-old Australian will temporarily step down as chair of Tesla’s audit committee until she quits Telstra.
Musk remains chief executive and is Tesla's biggest investor, according to the report. Musk agreed to step down as chair for three years and pay a fine in a deal with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over tweets he made about taking the firm into private ownership.
Despite the scandals, Tesla made a profit of $312 million in the third quarter, well ahead of Wall Street forecasts, with revenues of $6.8 billion.