Surprise! Elon Musk Just Declared Himself the 'Technoking' of Tesla

Elon Musk just crowned himself the "Technoking" of Tesla one week after gaining $25 billion in one day, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It's bizarre, we know — but the filing also appointed CFO Zach Kirhorn as Tesla's "Master of Coin."

Elon Musk and Zach Kirkhorn crown themselves as royalty

"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," read the SEC filing. "Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer."

This title change comes on the heels of Musk's announcement last month that Tesla could begin accepting bitcoin as an official means of payment soon. The cryptocurrency's stock price reached $61,788 through the weekend — a new high.

Every joke has a dark side, and here we could be seeing Musk's arguably obtuse way of telling the world how he feels about his relationship to other humans, especially after surpassing Jeff Bezos as the richest person on Earth. Musk was also sued by a Tesla investor for his ongoing "erratic tweets" that could expose the all-electric automaker to penalties and fines capable of reducing the share price.

Surprisingly, Musk's baffling Monday announcement had little effect on the electric vehicle manufacturer's stock price — which rose bt up to 1.5% amid morning trading. Shares of Tesla saw a meteoric 600% rise in 2020. But so far in 2021, the stock has fallen 20% — with a high of $880.82 reached on Jan. 8.

Musk's title could be a cringey 'Game of Thrones' reference

Tesla also revealed on Monday that its President of Automotive — Jerome Guillen — is now the president of Tesla Heavy Trucking. During a 2020 fourth-quarter earnings call, Musk also said he believes deliveries of the Tesla Semi will begin this year — since the engineering work on the big-rig truck sporting an all-electric powertrain is finished.

However, Musk also said during the call that a scarcity of battery cells generally could grind production to a halt. But it's generally unclear why exactly Kirkhorn and Musk have changed their titles to break with convention. Kirkhorn's new title feels like an obvious "Game of Thrones" reference — wherein the Master of Coin manages the royal treasury in close collaboration with the ruling monarchy.

If Tesla is a monarchy, Musk would be its ruling head — but, last we checked, we don't live in a techno-feudalistic dystopia, which means this is about Musk making himself laugh — even if the rest of the internet only feels cringe.

It's also not exactly the height of professionalism to declare oneself the Technoking over your employees — to say nothing of how passé a "Game of Thrones" reference is in 2021 — in light of what happens to the heads of monarchies at the end of that show (and often in real history — namely, during the French Revolution).

This was a breaking story and was regularly updated as new information became available.