Joe Gebbia, who is best known for being an Airbnb co-founder, has officially joined Tesla's board of directors on September 25, as per CNBC.
A regulatory filing notes that Tesla has appointed Gebbia as an independent member of the automaker's board. Likewise, according to Reuters, Tesla released a statement on Gebbia's appointment.
Gebbia Waives Any Entitlement to Cash Compensation
According to TechCrunch, Gebbia's appointment as one of Tesla's boards comes just a few months after he left his post at the operations of Airbnb.
Currently, he serves as advisor and one of the boards at Airbnb. He is also part of the board of Airbnb.org, a nonprofit organization that provides housing to people displaced in times of crisis.
The inclusion of Gebbia in the board at Elon Musk's automaker company comes after Oracle chair and chief technology officer Larry Ellison departed the company.
Ellison's departure from Tesla was was announced in June. The following month, it was finalized after a shareholders' proxy vote.
In 2018, Ellison joined Tesla's board together with former Walgreens exec Kathleen Wilson-Thompson.
The addition of Ellison and Wilson-Thompson to the board was made in compliance with the terms of a settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tesla and Musk were charged by the SEC with civil securities fraud. This was after he tweeted that "he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share and had funding secured to do so," as per CNBC.
The filing posted on Wednesday said that Gebbia has decided to waive any entitlement to cash compensation. Likewise, the new independent board also waived equity compensation until July 2023, as per TechCrunch.
Moving forward, the board will make a decision on "what appropriate equity compensation will look like for each member."
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Gebbia Takes an Advisory Role at Airbnb
Gebbia, who is estimated to be worth $7 billion, accepts Tesla's appointment after making a statement in July that he would "take on an advisory role at Airbnb." At that time, he decided to step away from his full-time role at the company.
According to Electrek, there is no known relationship between Gebbia and Tesla or its CEO. As of writing, there is no information yet whether Gebbia invested in the company.
Gebbia is a designer by training. He had been a part of Airbnb since the short-term rentals' early days back in 2007. In July, he decided to stepped down from his operating role.
As of writing, no Tesla board committee has been assigned to Gebbia yet.
Gebbia joined other Tesla's other non-executive board members including Chair Robyn Denholm, and Ira Ehrenpreis, founder of the venture capital investment firm DBL Partners.
Former Japanese pension fund executive Hiro Mizuno, who is the UN's special envoy on innovative finance and sustainable investing, media entrepreneur James Murdoch, and restaurateur Kimbal Musk, who is CEO Elon Musk's brother, are also part of the board.
Tesla will be able to avoid further conflict with SEC now that there is a new independent board in the company. Previously, SEC has initiated multiple probes to know whether Musk and Tesla are still complying with their agreement.
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