Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and chairman of SolarCity, has recently purchased $65 million worth of SolarCity’s “Solar Bonds”, or a purchase of his own company’s debt. SolarCity CEO and CTO Lyndon and Peter Rive have also each purchased $17.5 million worth of “Solar Bonds”.
This move has troubled the company’s shareholders, and CtW Investment Group has already raised concerns on behalf of union-sponsored pension funds currently invested in 200,000 shares of Tesla.
According to Charles Elson, an authority on corporate governance at the University of Delaware, Officers or directors generally don’t buy debt sold by the companies they run, and Elson generally advises against it. “When you see an officer buying stock, it is a good sign — it means the business might have a good future,” he said. “If you see them buying debt, you wonder, what is the long-term value.”
In a statement to CNBC, Lyndon Rive explained that the purchase is “an efficient way for the company to raise capital without paying expensive banking fees.”
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