In the grand scheme, nothing has changed: Elon Musk is still the chief executive officer of Tesla, and Zach Kirkhorn is still the company's chief financial officer. But both men now have official new titles, notes CNBC, and both are doozies. Here is how things are stated in a formal filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission: "Effective as of March 15, 2021, the titles of Elon Musk and Zach Kirkhorn have changed to Technoking of Tesla and Master of Coin, respectively." The filing adds that both men will keep their CEO and CFO titles as well, notes CNN.
"Technoking" might be a reference to Tesla's view of itself as a disrupter of technology, one industry analyst speculates in a memo, per the Wall Street Journal. And a post at Ars Technica suggests that "master of coin" might reflect the company's big new investment in cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin. Then again, everyone might be overthinking it. Musk being Musk, it's possible he's just messing with everyone, notes a post at Complex, which uses a stronger word than "messing." (Musk has big Mars plans with his other company, SpaceX, but one critic thinks it's a giant waste of money.)