Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently fired back at Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, telling him to ‘shut up’ after Ives made bold recommendations about the company. Ives, a long-time supporter of Tesla on Wall Street, suggested that Tesla’s board should tie Musk’s compensation to the time he spends on the company, arguing that Musk’s political activities were pulling him away from Tesla’s business. 
This comment, among others, has sparked a heated exchange between the two.
As Tesla faces pressure from weak deliveries and Musk’s ongoing political involvement, Ives has been vocal about the company’s struggles. He previously warned that Tesla was at a ‘turning point,’ citing concerns over Musk’s attention being divided between his political ventures and his leadership at Tesla. Despite these challenges, Ives had initially remained bullish on Tesla but recently revised his price target for Tesla shares from $550 to $315, reflecting the company’s difficulties.
In a more recent post, Ives continued to criticize Musk, suggesting that Tesla should grant Musk more control (25%) to help streamline a potential merger with Musk’s AI venture, xAI. Ives also called for ‘guardrails’ to limit the amount of time Musk spends on political activities, as well as oversight on Musk’s political endeavors. These suggestions, unsurprisingly, did not sit well with Musk.
Responding to Ives’ remarks, Musk dismissed the analyst’s recommendations with a blunt ‘shut up, Dan.’ Despite Musk’s sharp retort, Ives did not back down, hinting that he would elaborate further on his thoughts about Tesla later.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s second-quarter deliveries showed another annual drop, which, although disappointing, didn’t faze the company’s harshest critics. Analysts have speculated that the sales slowdown is a result of Musk’s political distractions and production issues, but Musk himself has insisted that the slump is due to retooling efforts, with the company’s future relying heavily on humanoid robots.