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Another executive departure, another controversy over the CEO’s behavior, another stock drop.
Another typical day at Tesla.
Although the details change, the pattern stays the same. This time the executive departure is David Morton, chief accounting officer at Tesla Inc., who called it quits after just a month on the job. The controversy is over Elon Musk taking a hit off an apparent marijuana joint during a podcast interview that made its rounds on YouTube. And the stock dropped more than 6 percent Friday to close at $263.24 a share — its lowest point since April.
All of it comes as the electric automaker continues to struggle to convert itself from a money-losing boutique to a mass-production profit machine. It’s doing so while under investigation by the government and facing shareholder lawsuits after Musk revealed a plan to take the company private on Twitter, boosting the share price. The estimated $24 billion plan eventually was scrapped, and the stock fell.
Whole Foods workers aim to unionize
A group of workers at Whole Foods Market is trying to form a union, seeking better compensation and benefits and charging that conditions have worsened since Amazon bought the organic grocer last year.
In an email sent to Whole Foods employees Thursday, the union drive’s organizers said layoffs and consolidation at stores had put employees’ livelihoods at risk and that more was likely to come. The group proposed demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage, better retirement benefits, paid maternity leave and lower health insurance costs, among other benefits.
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ON THE MOVE
>> Honolulu Federal Credit Union has hired Matthew Yetter as its new IT manager. Yetter has more than 15 years’ experience in information systems management and communications maintenance, including previously having served as a system administrator, engineer and security manager for Hawaii Pacific University.
>> Marriott International-Hawaii has announced that Tom Calame is the new general manager at Sheraton Waikiki. He has worked with Marriott International for nearly 20 years, including as a resident manager, hotel manager and general manager. Calame previously served as a complex general manager for Aruba Marriott Complex since December 2012.
>> Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel has announced that Joelle B. Yamamoto has joined the firm’s Trusts, Estates and Family Business practice group and is its newest associate. She will practice in the areas related to probate, estate planning and trust administration, including trust and will disputes. Yamamoto clerked for the Honorable Derrick H.M. Chan while he was chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court.
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