In order to keep his job and avoid a lawsuit, Montana said, he elected to “immediately cease writing at Seeking Alpha and to deactivate [his] Twitter account.”

It’s unclear exactly how Musk would have come across Montana’s name and employer, though it’s possible he caught wind of Montana’s identity thanks to his devoted Twitter following. It’s also not clear why Musk would have decided to go after Montana in particular; there are hordes of Tesla critics, and there’s no evidence that Montana’s writings materially impacted Tesla’s stock price. A spokeswoman for Musk declined a request for comment, and a Tesla spokesperson told the Hive, “Stewart Rahr, [Montana Skeptic’s] employer, is a longtime Tesla supporter and was one of the first to purchase a Model S. When executives at Rahr Enterprises became aware of [Montana’s] actions, [he] volunteered to stop and did.”

As Jalopnik notes, it appears that Montana’s employer had in fact loaned money to projects for oil-related firms; the business in general, however, does not appear to be involved directly or primarily with oil. But to the pro-Musk and pro-Tesla crowd, even Montana’s oblique involvement in oil companies is proof positive that his Tesla-bashing was intended to protect his own portfolio. Musk himself has long been paranoid about Big Oil, even (erroneously) suggesting that the industry is behind media criticism of Tesla. “Problem is [journalists] are under constant pressure to get max clicks & earn advertising dollars or get fired,” he tweeted in May. “Tricky situation, as Tesla doesn’t advertise, but fossil fuel companies & gas/diesel car companies are among world’s biggest advertisers.”

If Musk did in fact silence a critical blogger by phoning his boss, it would not be entirely out of character. While Wall Street breathes down his neck about production, Musk has been getting into fights on Twitter and dressing down analysts who dare doubt the robustness of his company. In a May earnings call, Musk bashed one analyst for asking “boring, bonehead questions” that were “not cool,” and berated another, saying, “these questions are so dry. They’re killing me.” His erratic behavior may have cost his company billions, and duly unnerved investors. “I’ve never seen a share price more tethered to a C.E.O., and I’ve never seen a C.E.O. who is more untethered from reality,” one Tesla investor told my colleague Nick Bilton. “Elon Musk is clearly more of a genius than Steve Jobs ever was, but Steve was more of a pro than Elon Musk has ever been.”

This article has been updated with a statement from Tesla.