Siemens CEO regrets admiration for & # 39; pot prints & # 39; after the deputy praised Elon Musk

FRANKFURT – Reuters Deputy praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“funny opinions in our country: When a German top manager proactively orientes his company towards the future, he is seen as & # 39; high & # 39; and & # 39; philosophical & # 39 ;. When a colleague who smokes pot in the United States talks about Peterchen's moon trip, he is an admired visionary, ”Kaeser tweeted, referring to a German child's history of space travel.

Siemens declined to comment on the tweet, which came days after Siemens Vice President Roland Busch, who is German, described Tesla's ( TSLA.O ) Musk as a "visionary."

Kaeser's statement sparked a lively debate on social media, while Siemens CEO later tried to clarify his comments.

In an exchange with a journalist from a daily business, Kaeser said in a tweet on Saturday that there was no need for wild speculation and attempts to refer to Busch's comment about Musk.

"This is NOT at all about Mr. Busch and / or Mr. Musk," Kaeser said, adding that his goal was rather to draw attention to entrepreneurial spirit in Germany and the declining relevance of German companies.

Musk provoked a Twitter storm last year after briefly smoking marijuana on a live web show with comedian Joe Rogan.

In September, Siemens promoted Busch to the Deputy Managing Director, putting him in a pole position to replace Kaeser as head of the German engineering giant.

31. October, Busch tweeted, “Great to meet w / @elonmusk, a true visionary of our time. Talked about #FutureofMobility, fast car charging distribution enabling #electric mobility, advanced production and rocket technology. We are proud of @Siemens #technology supporting Elon's most exciting dreams. ”

At the company's annual news conference this week, Busch said that Musk's electric car manufacturer Tesla and SpaceX, which make rockets, are major customers for Siemens' digital industries.