Elon Musk

The cost of the Roadster, Tesla’s first car, continued to grow, so Musk decided to call in two men, Antonio Gracias and Tim Watkins, who specialized in assessing inefficiencies and production problems at troubled companies. Musk, Watkins, and Gracias determined that Tesla’s supply chain was extremely inefficient, and Watkins found out that Tesla did not have a bill of materials for the Roadster which documented the parts that went into the car and how much they cost. They told Musk that the company would run out of money if they didn’t fix these issues.

Members of the Tesla board reached out to Musk and suggested that they find a replacement for Eberhard. Initially, they made a cordial agreement to gradually transition Eberhard out of the company. However, after Watkins came to Musk and told him that Eberhard had not put together a bill of materials, Musk’s tone changed and he conjectured that Eberhard had deceived him. He told Eberhard that he was fired immediately. Musk ranted about Eberhard online, eventually spurring Eberhard to sue Musk for libel. Even after the two men reached a settlement, Musk continued to unleash sporadic attacks on Eberhard via Twitter.