In a staggering display of shareholder discontent rarely seen in the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley, Tesla’s most prominent private investor, Ross Gerber, has publicly excoriated CEO Elon Musk, branding him as “delusional” following a deeply unsettling earnings call that has sent ripples throughout the financial community. The Tuesday earnings report revealed a catastrophic 71 percent plunge in Tesla's quarterly profits — a figure as stark as it is symbolic of Musk’s current corporate predicament.
What might once have been dismissed as eccentric bravado from the tech titan has now turned into a flashpoint of shareholder revolt, threatening the very leadership structure at Tesla’s core.
The timing could not be more precarious. The earnings call marked Tesla’s first major investor communication since Musk controversially joined President Donald Trump’s administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The appointment has sparked mounting frustration among shareholders and consumers alike, many of whom view Musk's growing entanglement with political affairs as a distraction from Tesla’s bleeding core business.
The company’s stock has fallen by 37 percent since the start of 2025, a nosedive attributed to a toxic cocktail of consumer boycotts, political backlash, and even acts of vandalism targeting Tesla vehicles — a public relations disaster that no one at the top seems willing to directly address.
Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management and a long-time Tesla bull who previously held over 250,000 shares, did not hold back during his post-call commentary. In a blistering phone interview with Newsweek, Gerber expressed disillusionment not only with the company’s numbers but also with Musk's apparent detachment from reality.
“I’m trying to figure out if Elon Musk actually does anything at Tesla at all,” he said, suggesting Musk’s renewed focus on the company was little more than a “false hope.” His words carry particular weight, not merely due to his financial stake — which included a $60 million stock dump last August — but also because he has long been a vocal, invested participant in Tesla’s trajectory.
Gerber's accusations go far beyond mere disappointment. He alleges that Tesla’s leadership, under Musk, is in “complete denial” about the role Musk’s controversial behavior and government involvement have played in damaging the company’s prospects.
Musk, according to Gerber, has opted to spin the narrative as a politically motivated attack rather than taking ownership of his strategic missteps. “It’s these leftists that are attacking him because he’s in the government, is what he seems to think,” Gerber said, before adding bluntly, “I think they are just completely delusional at this point, including Elon.”
The earnings call itself provided little solace. Musk opened with characteristic flair, touting the progress of the DOGE team in curbing fraud and government waste, and continued into a meandering defense of Tesla’s vision. But it was his response to questions about the long-promised robotaxi that pushed Gerber — and likely many others — to a breaking point.
When asked for specifics about the upcoming autonomous taxi rollout in Austin, Texas, Musk devolved into what Gerber described as “ten minutes of stuttering.” The answers were vague, the vision ungrounded, and the rhetoric eerily familiar. Musk claimed millions of Teslas would be driving themselves by late 2026 and even compared their camera systems to human vision.
“But you have no ears. You have no touch. You have no smell. You have no intuition, you're nothing like a human,” Gerber scoffed. “If you think a camera is anything like your eye, you don't know the first thing about biology.”
Tesla’s own first-quarter earnings report paints an even bleaker picture, acknowledging that "uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase" and that evolving trade policies and political sentiment are placing significant strain on the global supply chain. Yet, the company insisted it would double down on expansion into AI and robotics, stating its intent to deliver “autonomous robots across multiple form factors and use cases.”
This statement, in light of the brutal profit collapse and widespread investor anxiety, reads more like a fantasy pitch than a feasible roadmap.
The irony of Musk’s predicament is that despite the overwhelming criticism, he continues to command a kind of mythic reverence in certain investor circles — though that grip may finally be slipping. His commitment to reduce his time spent on DOGE starting next month, pledging instead to refocus on Tesla’s business a few days each week, was clearly intended as a reassurance.
But Gerber and others see it differently. “He’s already mentally moved on,” Gerber warned, suggesting Musk's real passion lies with xAI and other side ventures, not the automaker that made him a global icon.
Yet for all the chaos and critique, Tesla’s stock did experience a brief uptick, rising six percent on Wednesday following the earnings call. Whether this is a dead cat bounce or the beginning of a long road to recovery remains uncertain.
Investors appear divided: some hopeful that Musk’s recommitment signals renewed focus, others increasingly convinced that the company’s visionary is now its liability.
The undercurrent of the crisis is unmistakable. Elon Musk’s leadership style — once celebrated as bold and unorthodox — is now being recast as erratic and disconnected.
His failure to confront the consequences of his dual role as CEO and government figurehead, his repeated deflection of tough questions, and his insistence on futuristic gambits in the face of collapsing fundamentals have eroded investor trust.
What Gerber articulated with such ferocity is what many have long whispered: the emperor may no longer wear any clothes.
Calls for Musk’s resignation, once unthinkable, are beginning to surface not only on social media but increasingly within institutional circles. If Tesla’s board does not act, it may find itself in the crosshairs of shareholders demanding accountability, and perhaps, demanding change.
In a world where markets reward performance over personality, Elon Musk’s long honeymoon with Tesla investors may finally be coming to an end. And if Ross Gerber’s critique is any indication, the divorce proceedings have already begun.
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