Elon Musk deletes tweet attacking Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk had harsh criticism of ousted Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard over the weekend.
- In a now-deleted tweet, Musk said "Tesla is alive in spite of Eberhard, but he seeks credit constantly & fools give it him."
- The billionaire also tweeted that he had deleted his Twitter account (which was not true as of Monday morning), and received criticism for comments about the necessity of crediting artists for their work.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had an interesting weekend on Twitter.
His strange few days on the social network culminated in a name change to "Daddy DotCom" and a tweet that he had just "deleted" his account (which as of Monday morning was not true), but not before he took the time to lash out at the company's co-founder Martin Eberhard.
Eberhard, now the CTO and chairman of an electric vehicle battery startup called Tiveni, was fired from Tesla in 2007. Two years later, Eberhard filed a defamation lawsuit against Musk, which was eventually dropped. At the time, Tesla accused Eberhard of being a poor CEO who "left the company's finances in shambles."
Read more: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the amount of time he spends on Twitter is 'like, almost nothing'
Business Insider reported at the time that Eberhard's contract included a non-disparagement clause, though it's not clear if the agreement was reciprocal.
Business Insider reached out to Eberhard for comment. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Amid Musk's flurry of weekend tweeting was also comments about crediting artists for their work, which was met with much criticism.
"No one should be credited with anything ever," he said in a now-deleted tweet after being asked to credit an artist who's work he shared to his 27 million followers.
More Tesla news:
- The Trump administration has denied Tesla's request for parts of the Model 3 that are made in China to be exempt from tariffs
- Elon Musk says a Tesla with 400 miles of range is coming soon
- Elon Musk just said Tesla has a good shot of setting a record for deliveries this quarter