By Kishor Napier-Raman and Bianca Hall
Australian provincialism is such that we tend to view those of us who gain proximity to figures of global power with a bit of starry-eyed awe. Such was the narrative around local girl made good and one-time Telstra executive Robyn Denholm when she was promoted to chair Elon Musk’s Tesla in 2018.
But as Denholm’s star rose with Musk, so it will fall with Musk. The world’s richest internet troll has dragged his company’s reputation through the muck, thanks to a bizarre flirtation with the far right and determination to turn Twitter (latterly known as X) into even more of a cesspit than it already was.
Robyn Denholm, James Murdoch and Elon Musk.Credit: James Brickwood, Getty Images, Reuters
So when Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen McCormick voided Musk’s $US55 billion ($83.6 billion) pay package following a challenge by investors, it was Tesla board members such as Denholm, and James Murdoch (whose dad Rupert you might have heard of) who were drawn into the firing line.
Key to McCormick’s reasoning was the fact that Tesla’s nine directors lacked sufficient independence to stop Musk from enriching himself. In Denholm’s case, an admission that the $US280 million she received through the sale of Tesla options was “life-changing” compromised her independence.
Murdoch, meanwhile, totally lacked independence because he was a close friend of Musk’s, and was recruited to the board during one of their repeated holidays together, the ruling said.
McCormick delivered a few particularly scathing rebukes to Denholm, calling into question her performance as chair. There was the astonishing admission that she simply couldn’t recall discussions about a new pay package for Musk at a 2017 board meeting.
It got worse. Denholm’s appointment as chair came after Musk was effectively forced out as part of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over fraud charges stemming from a rogue tweet. Another part of that settlement included a new disclosure committee, in part to vet any future rogue tweets. Anyone who’s followed Musk’s increasingly unhinged social media output might guess how that panned out.
McCormick took a rather dim view of Denholm’s work on that committee, writing that the chair demonstrated a lack of understanding as to how it worked.
“Denholm’s approach to enforcement of the SEC settlement, including unawareness of one of its key requirements, suggests a new lackadaisical approach to her oversight obligations,” she said.
In other news, an SEC filing this week revealed Denholm planned to sell 281,116 Tesla shares, worth about $80 million. She could be renovating her $27.5 million Cremorne Point penthouse in no time.
LOWE BLOW
Sometimes, you almost feel bad for former Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe.
The man who promised interest rates wouldn’t rise until 2024, then presided over a dozen rate rises – then told Australians struggling with the housing crisis to consider getting flatmates, moving home with parents or just working more – simply couldn’t catch a break.
After Treasurer Jim Chalmers dumped him last year, the outgoing governor said he’d become unpopular because he’d made “tough decisions” and had a brief swipe at media clickbait. Perhaps we just misunderstood him!
But if so, we weren’t the only ones. Australia Day came and went last week with the usual round of culture war nonsense – but Lowe did not receive a gong. You have to go back to the 1990s to find a departing RBA governor who wasn’t made a Companion of the Order of Australia on their way out the door.
The last one to miss out was Bernie Fraser, whose appointment by the Hawke government angered the Liberals such that we can’t imagine he was all that popular with John Howard and co, who were elected just before his term ended.
Fraser’s three predecessors all received gongs too, which makes Lowe’s snubbing all the more pointed. Then again, in the current climate, we can’t imagine making Lowe an AC would’ve gone down too well. We asked the governor-general’s office about all this, but didn’t hear back.
OPTUS’ LATEST LOSS
CBD reckons few have a way with language like the late Oscar Wilde, whose prescient words must be ringing through the ears of interim Optus boss Michael Venter: “To lose one may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.”
The day after news broke that incoming head of corporate affairs Danielle Keighery had been poached by Qantas before she’d even begun at Optus, the telco’s senior director of corporate affairs Sally Oelerich left her role on Wednesday, after six years.
Regular readers will recall Oelerich’s 2022 train wreck interview with now cancelled 2GB host Chris Smith, when she struggled to explain the reasons behind the Optus data breach.
A source close to Oelerich rejected suggestions she had been fired, and this denial was backed up by Optus’ vice president of regulatory and public affairs Andrew Sheridan.
“Sally’s commitment, determination and enthusiasm was evident in all her dealings for Optus, and we thank her for her contributions,” he said. “While we are sad to hear of Sally’s decision to leave Optus, we wish her all the best for the future.”
The telco is still recovering from the loss of chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin following last year’s outage. Whoever replaces Oelerich has their work cut out for them.
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