*By Carlo Versano* The exodus from Tesla continued Friday morning, after news that two more executives had called it quits. Accounting chief David Morton [reportedly](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-moves/tesla-chief-accountant-resigns-one-month-after-joining-idUSKCN1LN1MH) resigned just a month after joining the company. The impetus? Reportedly the unrelenting pace of work and the level of public scrutiny at the company. Shortly after, HR head Gabrielle Toledano, who'd taken a leave of absence last month, also said she wouldn't return. The departures came after CEO Elon Musk gave a wide-ranging, nearly three-hour [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPr5-27vSI&feature=youtu.be) to podcast host Joe Rogan and addressed topics ranging from his job at Tesla to the the end of the world. Musk admitted on "The Joe Rogan Experience" that running a company like Tesla is intense and tricky, saying, "It's very difficult to keep a car company alive." The CEO didn't give any indication that he's seeking a lieutenant to help him handle the workload. At one point, Musk and Rogan shared a spliff, though Musk said doesn't make a habit of smoking weed, which he called "a cup of coffee in reverse." He said he's found the substance hurt his productivity. Marijuana is legal in California, where the interview took place. Musk also told Rogan that Tesla remains his focus, though he did ruminate aloud on a new idea to build an electric airplane that he thinks would be capable of taking off and landing vertically (VTOL), as Harrier jets do. But Musk also said this isn't really a priority, and he also dismissed the concept of a flying car as impractical. “Electric cars are important, solar energy is important, stationary storage of energy is important. These things are much more important than creating electric supersonic VTOL,” he said. Rogan asked Musk about The Boring Company, which Musk said started as a"joke," mostly borne out of his desperation to fix L.A.'s notoriously bad traffic problem. "I'm not saying it's going to be successful," Musk said, though he noted it has already dug a mile-long tunnel under the streets of Los Angeles. Shares of Tesla were down as much as 10 percent in early Friday trade, the biggest percent drop for the company since June 2016. That may have provided some relief to those betting on the company's decline ー on Thursday, it was reported that prolific short seller Andrew Left of Citron Research was filing suit against Tesla and Musk for the now-infamous "funding secured" tweet in early August. Left argued that the CEO committed stock manipulation and securities fraud ー shares immediately soared after that post, but have since fallen more than 30 percent. Musk did not directly address the suit during the Rogan sit-down.
