*By Carlo Versano*
Tesla's chief people officer taking an extended leave of absence just 15 months after joining the team is yet another disruption for a company that needs to project stability, said Brian Deagon of Investor's Business Daily.
"These kinds of things do not help at all," Deagon said.
Gaby Toledano's leave, which Tesla said was at her request, is on the heels of the departure of chief engineer Doug Field, who decamped for Apple earlier this summer after he too [took a leave of absence](https://www.wsj.com/articles/teslas-chief-engineer-is-out-after-taking-leave-of-absence-1530561319).
These management changes, while not unique to Tesla, come at the worst possible for time for Elon Musk, Deagon said.
Musk's summer of self-inflicted chaos continued Thursday when a lawyer [sent](https://twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1034761900100407296) the CEO a notice of intent to sue on behalf of his client, a diver involved in the Thai cave rescue who Musk slammed on Twitter.
Tesla shareholders are showing signs of impatience with all the drama. The stock is down roughly 28 percent from its highs of the year, hit Aug. 7 after Musk's now-infamous tweet that he had "funding secured" to take the company private.
"What Tesla really needs is for Elon Musk to get more rest," Deagon said. The company still is without a second-in-command, which would be a burden for any CEO ー let alone one who runs two large companies.
But because of Musk's controlling interest, finding him a "Sheryl Sandberg"-type COO to act as deputy has not been successful, Deagon said.
He added: "What are \[Tesla board members\] doing about keeping Elon Musk under control?"
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/does-tesla-have-a-people-problem).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
