Elon Musk, a modern-day Peter Pan

In an October 2 "Perspective" piece for the Daily Journal, I chronicled the recent travails of Elon Musk and compared him and the technological innovators and ego he fully embodies with a pair of mythological creatures who brought misfortune and woe to many. I concluded with the observation that Musk's saving grace was that he was more akin to the swash-buckling military leader Odysseus than the hubristic Icarus.

The subsequent 48 hours suggest the more apt comparison should not have been to the leader who brought returning victors back from the Trojan War, but to the leader of The Lost Boys: Peter Pan. On Friday October 5, news reports indicated that subsequent to his September 30 settlement of a SEC enforcement case for tweeting that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share and had already secured the funding to do so, which was not true, Musk began trolling the SEC on Twitter by, among other things, calling it the "Shortseller Enrichment Commission"--short sellers being his avowed nemesis (his Captain Hook, if you will).

Never mind that the SEC's complaint sought to bar him from serving as an officer or director of a public company, including his own. Or that, as part of the settlement, he surrendered the chairmanship of Tesla's board. Or that this latest gambit may motivate the SEC to revisit and possibly rescind the settlement, putting Musk's head back on the proverbial chopping block. Rather, as with the ever-playful Boy from Neverland, this visionary chief executive seems to view it all as just a game of cat and mouse. Not so to Tesla's shareholders. On Friday October 5 Tesla shares declined 7% on the news of Musk's taunt.

Institutional and corporate investors have obligations to their funds and shareholders to maximize return and minimize risk. Viewed from that fiduciary prism, how long can a pension or retirement fund manager hold onto a position where the CEO spends time Tweet-taunting a federal enforcement agency? Such recklessness, for someone blessed with so much talent and vision, is a path down a dark road that is sure to lead to an ignominious end.

As any child who knows the Peter Pan story recalls, there was always a threat of Captain Hook lurking in the background, whose presence was announced by the sound of a ticking clock. Unless an alarm sounds to immediately constrain Musk's Neverland-like banter and play, the clock in the Croc will draw ever closer, putting shareholders and a promising young company at risk.

Tick tock, young Elon, tick tock ...