Another Iceberg, Right Ahead 220
Marks. He would work as an interim CEO until Tesla could
find a long-term CEO. Elon knew he couldn’t run the
company himself – he already worked as the CEO and
CTO of SpaceX. Eberhard, now demoted to the president
of technology, would still earn the same salary as when he
worked as CEO. This position suited him better. “I’m an
engineer, not a finance guy,” he said. But five weeks later,
in October, Marks informed Eberhard he could no longer
work in the company because it was unsustainable due to
Elon’s persistent calls for Eberhard’s termination. “I should
have been more careful,” Eberhard said. “I shouldn’t have
let Elon take a disproportionate control of the board.”196,208
Eberhard didn’t leave the company unnoticed. He felt
he was mistreated. While he tried to lower the costs of the
Roadster by using standardized parts, Elon was the one
who demanded the more expensive parts. Elon, however,
denied that the changes he made burdened the company.^59
Eberhard thought he had been a scapegoat and sued Tesla.
“I am not at all happy with the way I was treated, and I do
not think this was the very best way to handle a transition
- not the best for Tesla, not the best for Tesla’s customers,
and not for Tesla’s investors,” Eberhard said.^201
75 percent of the lawsuit consisted of attached media
articles. The articles consisted of interviews with Elon and
contained quotes where Elon said he was the founder of
Tesla. You couldn’t find the name Eberhard anywhere in
these articles. Eberhard accused Elon of trying to rewrite
the history by trying to take ownership of the idea behind
the company.^70 The truth was that Eberhard co-founded