Tesla adds James Murdoch and Linda Johnson Rice to its board of directors

Tesla has announced that it has added two new independent directors to its board including 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch and Linda Johnson Rice- the CEO of Johnson Publishing Company and Ebony Media Operations. The appointments expand Tesla's board to nine people, including Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.

According to Elon Musk, he'd been working on the move ever since Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity, the solar power company founded by Musk’s cousins. Musk said in a tweet that the activist shareholder group had nothing to do with the appointment of these directors.

Besides, I already said we'd add more independent members during SCTY merger. Will announce soon, but this group has nothing to do with it.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2017

In addition to serving as the CEO of 21st Century Fox, James Murdoch, the younger son of famed media mogul Rupert Murdoch, previously acted as the CEO of News Corp Europe and Asia, which includes prominent newspapers like the Wall Street Journal.

Linda Johnson Rice served as the CEO of Ebony Media Operations and retains an emeritus chairman role at Ebony Media Holdings. Rice has also served on the board of companies like Bausch & Lomb, Continental Bank, Quaker Oats, Dial Corporation, MoneyGram and Omnicom Group.