new delhi tesla incs board of directors is at a critical juncture wedged between a largerthanlife figure to whom many are personally close and their larger responsibility to shareholderselon musks astonishing interview with the new york times has heightened concerns surrounding the health of teslas chairman and chief executive officer with shares plunging 89 percent friday the largest drop in nearly two years the references to ambien use and driving while tweeting are fueling calls for teslas board to step up its oversight of the companys ceo and largest shareholderif the board is going to take any initiative they will clamp him down said maryann keller an independent auto industry analyst in stamford connecticut he isnt doing the stock or the perception of him as a leader any goodmusk in a tweet on sunday responding to an open letter from sleep evangelist arianna huffington urging him to change his work habits ruled out taking a different course ford tesla are the only 2 american car companies to avoid bankruptcy i just got back home from the factory you think this is an an option it is notin the times interview musk said he didnt recall communications from the board and that he definitely did not get calls from irate directors after his aug 7 tweet that he had funding secured to go private he later amended the comment through a spokeswoman saying lead independent director antonio gracias had contacted him about the tweet musk agreed not to tweet again on the possible transaction without discussing it with the board the spokeswoman saidmany hatsamong the challenges of supervising a peripatetic entrepreneur is that running tesla isnt his only job he is also chairman and ceo of innovative rocket manufacturer spacex and has created two other entities that add to demands on his timeits clear that musk cannot continue to run four companies at a time said stephen diamond an associate professor of law at santa clara university who specializes in corporate governance tesla needs and deserves a fulltime exclusive ceo but the first question the board needs to clarify is this is tesla for sale or not if they are going to entertain this goprivate idea of musks they are obligated to get the highest share price possiblethis week that hasnt been the case after the stock soared to a record intraday high of 38746 on aug 7 its had its worst week since 2016 ending at 30550but at musks companies its largely business as usual tesla workers at the fremont california assembly plant said they are focused on making cars but they do have questions about how the goprivate idea will affect the stock options that constitute a sizable chunk of their compensationlast week the four astronauts who are counting on space exploration technologies corp to safely ferry them to and from the international space station spent time at the companys hawthorne california headquarters with employees chief operating officer gwynne shotwell presided over the event which musk didnt attend