Can someone get Elon Musk's attention? I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Late today, we'll get sales, profits, losses, and hints of the road ahead from Tesla. Its stock is down 17% this year for a company where the boss tries to wear about a dozen hats all at the same time. Eric Gordon is a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Morning, Eric.

Hello, David.

Let's talk about Tesla, publicly held company, meaning it trades on the public stock market.

It is run by a guy with a lot of interests.

Some will say distractions.

Eric, help us with the list.

There's Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, and erstwhile government cost cutter.

There's what?

He also runs X.

He runs SpaceX, the rocket company.

And then there's his latest love.

His latest fling is with his AI company.

He's got a lot of boss to juggle. Include he's thinking about forming his own love. His latest fling is with his AI company. He's got a lot of boss to juggle.

Including he's thinking about forming his own political party. Tesla shareholders have an interest in Musk,

how should I say this, buckling down. I mean, many of us sign employment contracts that say

that our company is supposed to be the key focus of our workday, that would be of concern

to the board at Tesla. It was such a big concern that they put together this legendary pay

package could have been worth $56 billion, with a B, dollars, to get Musk focused on Tesla. The board said, well, he's worth it because we need to get him

focused on Tesla. And if he does, he can produce more than that value. So that is the open-ended

question. I mean, and Tesla has this board of directors. You've looked at the group. Can they in

practice, if they wished, lay down

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