The now infamous Tesla founder’s feud was one of those classic fights that exemplified the difficulties of the entrepreneurial experience, as well as the bumpy road for an electric vehicle startup. And it has now supposedly ended as abruptly as it started: this morning, according to Tesla, Tesla’s CEO and Chairman Elon Musk and Tesla founder Martin Eberhard, have “officially resolved their dispute.”
While Tesla wouldn’t disclose any details, last month the San Jose Business Journal reported that Eberhard dropped the suit in which he made allegations of libel, slander and breach of contract against his former employer. According to the Journal report, Eberhard “voluntarily requested that the suit be dropped” on Aug. 7, just a week and a half after the court rejected Tesla’s motion to have it thrown out altogether. Read the San Mateo Court rulings here.
Eberhard’s lawyer Yosef Peretz declined to comment on the specifics of the case last month, and Tesla is refusing to providing any details either this morning. That makes it sound like some sort of settlement to us.
The only thing that Tesla would offer is a variety of stilted quotes saying the issue is over and praising the other’s contribution. According to Tesla, Eberhard is quoted as saying: “As a co-founder of the company, Elon’s contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary.” And Musk’s quote is just as bro-friendly: “Industry-changing efforts are virtually impossible. Without Martin’s indispensable efforts, Tesla Motors would not be here today.” Given these two have years of animosity towards each other (read Michael Copeland’s article from 2008 on this) these statements sound about as forced as you can get.
In the end there’s little resolution on who can or can not call themselves a founder, but given the complexity of the question (as we detailed here), perhaps an unresolved ending is the most appropriate.
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