Elon Musk Says Investors Convinced Him Tesla Should Stay Public (washingtonpost.com) 215
Weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his intentions to take his company private, on late Friday, he said investors have convinced him that he shouldn't take the company private, so the firm will remain on the public stock markets. From a report: The eccentric and sometimes erratic CEO said in a statement late Friday that he made the decision based on feedback from shareholders, including institutional investors, who said they have internal rules limiting how much they can sink into a private company. Musk met with the electric car and solar panel company's board on Thursday to tell them he wanted to stay public and the board agreed, according to the statement. In a blog post, Mr. Musk shared the rationale behind his decision, to which he arrived after speaking with investors, both large and small, banks and others. He said: Given the feedback I've received, it's apparent that most of Tesla's existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company. Additionally, a number of institutional shareholders have explained that they have internal compliance issues that limit how much they can invest in a private company. There is also no proven path for most retail investors to own shares if we were private. Although the majority of shareholders I spoke to said they would remain with Tesla if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was "please don't do this."
I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it's clear that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated. This is a problem because we absolutely must stay focused on ramping Model 3 and becoming profitable. We will not achieve our mission of advancing sustainable energy unless we are also financially sustainable. That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.
I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it's clear that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated. This is a problem because we absolutely must stay focused on ramping Model 3 and becoming profitable. We will not achieve our mission of advancing sustainable energy unless we are also financially sustainable. That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.
Great Story (Score:3, Funny)
You be sure and tell them that down at the police station...
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Nice story, tell it to Reader's Digest. [youtube.com]
Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:4, Insightful)
He is being told to let go and he's letting go.
Tesla needs a serious amount of fresh money to overcome losses, stalling demand, talent loss and the incoming high and low cost competition.
The Tony Stark wannabe attention whore isn't the answer, an adult manager is, if Tesla is to have a good chance of a turnaround.
It shedding the crazy buy at any price stock fan club is another.
But the most important will be hiring people who know how to make cars, and hope they can reverse the damage from Team Amateur.
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As Tesla has repeatedly pointed out, a profitable company does not need equity rounds. The stock spiked after the Q2 report because the market has been steadily coming to the realization that Tesla wasn't BS'ing in Q1 when they said that they'll be sustainably profitable starting in "Q3 or Q4" - since upgraded to specifically "Q3". This quarter. Which is over half over.
LOL. Why is it that Americans always forget that there's a world outside of Amer
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LOL. Why is it that Americans always forget that there's a world outside of America?
LOL back. A lot of us here on Slashdot aren't Americans, and in the world outside of the Soviet Republic of California, demand for Tesla is non-existent.
One reason is, of course, the absurdly high prices of what is otherwise a pretty unremarkable vehicle.
In places like Western Europe, where it is within financial reach of the affluent minority, the sales outside of the two countries that provide a significant subsidy are down sharply: https://twitter.com/auto_schmi... [twitter.com]
The Dutch subsidy is disappearing next y
Re:Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:5, Insightful)
And yet somehow pretend that the US plus Canada is Tesla's total market nonetheless - rather than it being a quarter of their market.
Highest-polling consumer satisfaction year-over-year of any brand.
Per-country month-by-month sales are mostly a reflection of delivery allocation. You people have been nonstop predicting a Tesla demand cliff ever since it founded - every year, every month. You'd think a broken record would have been right once in all this time.
The subsidy in question only concerns commercial buyers. It's a 4% currently, but will go to 22% for the amount of a car's price over €50000. So, say, for an €80000 Model S the tax for commercial buyers (again, reiterating that aspect) goes from €3200 to €8600, or €5200 more expensive. Meaningful, but not dramatic either for someone in the market for an €80000 car; nothing remotely like, say, the HK case (which wasn't just about commercial cars). For a €50000-or-less Model 3 (arriving in NL early next year), it will have no impact whatsoever. For, say, a €60000 well optioned Model 3, it only adds €1800 to the price.
This is your trump card? To overcome the huge annual year-over-year EV demand growth? *snicker*
*snicker*. Why, yes, cars being produced in tiny volumes are going to totally kill Tesla.
Econoboxen: Maybe it'll be the Hyundai Kona that kills them? Yeah, with global annual production volumes equal to three weeks of Model 3 production (which itself is far from at max), that's totally going to destroy them. Niro? Same. Meanwhile, a number of older econobox models are declining or disappearing. Hey, maybe Leaf can overcome its order-of-magnitude falling behind Model 3 with its new cooling system fixing #Rapidgate! Except, um, the same was said about the E-NV200, and its cooling system is terrible, and only slightly reduces the consequences of #Rapidgate. Here, name your "Tesla killer", go on!
Luxury EVs: What about the (delayed) I-Pace, that car that eats 275 Wh/km@88 kph (Model 3 = half that) but can only charge at 70-80kW at rarer higher power CCS stations for only 30% of its SoC before taper (Model 3 = 50% SoC @ 117kW from current superchargers, more from V3) and only ~45kW from the much more common lower power stations, has no more passenger "area" inside than a Model 3 (just higher) despite laughably pretending that it's X sized because it's a "SUV", has a hilariously awkward nav system and an AP that drives like its drunk, and is only planned at production volumes of (estimates vary) 10-30k per year, with the largest chunk of those going to Waymo, not private buyers? My god, Tesla should fear for its life! ;) E-Tron looks to be in the exact same situation of low volumes and guzzling energy without comparable charge rates, meaning you can't actually use it like... well, a car. Aka, a device you can actually use to drive between point A and point B even if A and B aren't near each other. If it can only take you around your local area, that a neighborhood electric vehicle, and it's at best a second car. The first one in the luxury segment that looks like it will be interesting is the Taycan (though their burn-out-your-cells charge rates are concerning, they at least understand the importance of streamlining), although t
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Where on earth did you get the idea that Hyundai is only going to make around 15000 Kona Electric cars a year? They
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The Dutch tax is still just for company car drivers; let's not pretend it is about people just randomly buying themselves a personal car. And doesn't have any affect at all for vehicles under €50k, and only incremental over that.
"around 15000" -> 18600. And the production rate has been widely reported on. [businesskorea.co.kr] Yes, the Kona is already overbooked by years in some markets. Estimates in Norway are that a new order now won't be filled until late 2020.
If you're fine with "econoboxy" interiors / less sport
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The Dutch tax is still just for company car drivers
47% of all new cars sold here are lease cars, and 87% of that on corporate leases. Not an insignificant market.
Yes, the Kona is already overbooked by years in some markets. Estimates in Norway are that a new order now won't be filled until late 2020
We'll see. It's rumoured that Hyundai is giving some priority to the Netherlands because of the change in taxation. Delivery time for the Ionic is listed as 6 months, the Kona estimated at 6-9 months, the Model 3, 6-12 months.
If you're fine with "econoboxy" interiors
Actual buttons > wood trim. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the interior. But who knows, I might go for a Model 3 once I've actually seen one.
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US and Canada. And they'll sell it outside of them whenever they need to. They're not, so they don't. Obviously.
Right. Again, note my totally-believing-you face that you, a person who hates Teslas, took time out of your vacation (or what it a trip specifically for this? ;) ) to test drive a Model 3. You were planning a family trip to the US some time in the past several months and thought, "You know what? I'm going to get in touch with a Tesla
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
Oh sure. Out of the 80,000 model 3s delivered you just happen to know several people who own one and happen to be conveniently close to where you're visiting. So of course you just had to ask to drive one while you were in the area, even though you hate everything about Tesla.
Do you enjoy being a laughingstock?
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
A lot more likely for a random guy on /. to know an owner of a car from a certain brand than for a company deep in debt and deep in red to receive a buyout offer that puts 30% on its already hyperovervalued stock.
Yet you doubt one, and firmly believe the other.
I think you're funnier.
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
A lot more likely for a random jackoff on Slashdot to make up what I believe than for him to actually know what I believe.
You're funniest.
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And yet... A lot more likely than "high demand for Tesla M3".
Why are all these cars burning up unplugged in the sun for months instead of being shipped to the impatiently waiting fan base?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Not only are the lots full, there is almost no activity there, and a bunch of cars are already covered with dust. If Tesla were shipping, the lot would be full of rigs and personnel loading th
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
I know you're pretty retarded, but even you could have actually read the article and seen that it says they had a "trip-average Supercharger dwell time of 38.3 minutes" rather than your "ONE FUCKING HOUR!!11!11!1ELEVENTY!!!".
No shit you're going to spend a lot of time charging if you decide to drive thousands of miles with a car that gets 300 miles on a full charge. What kind of halfwit do you have to be to expect otherwise? If you want to drive from one side of the USA to the other on a weekly basis with
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Demand here is insane, an
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As Tesla has repeatedly pointed out, a profitable company does not need equity rounds.
Especially when they have a $420 per share private buyout secured, right Rei? Who needs profits then (NOTE: Tesla doesn't turn a profit - they continue to lose ~$20,000 per car they sell).
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They probably still lose less money than Uber.
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> As Tesla has repeatedly pointed out, a profitable company does not need equity rounds
This is false. If you want to grow, you need capital. If you want to grow quickly, you need a lot of capital: more capital than can be generated from operations, and borrowing against capital equipment and receivables only provides very limited leverage. Also, by using purely debt for leverage, with limited cash balance-- there's a massive exposure to any small downtick in the business.
If TSLA does indeed reach sust
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No. It takes profit. They're very different things.
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Wait 10 1/2 weeks.
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Never happened. But thanks for putting words that I never said in my mouth, it's always appreciated!
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Stupid troll, they had unsold inventory to preserve the tax rebate as long as possible.
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Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:4, Insightful)
Only if the normal cost and time for said roads would be 8 years and $1B per mile.
As a general rule, Musk sets "ridiculously aggressive" targets for his companies, but only hits "quite aggressive" ones. But better to shoot for the stars and miss than shoot for the gutter and hit it. As a reminder: even with the half-year delay** on the Model 3 production scaleup, they still scaled up faster than the Bolt [insideevs.com], which was built on an existing line with an existing workforce. And now Tesla's volumes now make everyone else look like they're missing a zero. [insideevs.com]
** Then again, the *original* schedule for the Model 3 wasn't to start production until the end of 2017 anyway; they only missed the *moved up* schedule, not the original one.
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Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice concern trolling; it's funny how the shorts and Tesla opponents vocally "care" way much more about the timing of the base model than the actual reservation holders. Because Tesla is doing the exact same thing as Jaguar is doing, as Hyundai is doing, etc (selling higher-optioned-out variants of their EVs first).
They can sell every LR+PUP they produce, even without opening up three quarters of their global market. But they should totally sell lower margin versions instead in order to make a bunch of trolls happy, right?
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No, they should sell those because they already lost all markets but luxury market outside the West to BYD.
If at any point the regulatory limits on BYD get lowered, it's likely that it will enter mid end markets in the West. And if it does, Tesla is forever stuck in the "luxury cars" category.
Time is ticking, and the less promises are delivered, the more is the chance that BYD will do in the West what it did across Asia. Just quietly take the market over with no actual fanfare.
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Yeah, how dare anybody take Elon Musk at his word when he got on stage to launch the Model 3 and outright, unambiguously stated with no sliver of doubt, that the car would sell from $35,000.
Because it will.
Or that the base model would still be a good car.
It's still arguably better than any other EV on the market.
How dare anyone, despite this claim, despite this price point driving much of the news coverage and preorders, wonder where this version of the car actually is.
Well, they'd have to be pretty dumb, because the obvious answer is "coming later than Musk said" because he consistently misses target dates. However, he also consistently comes through on his promises, albeit late. So you'd have to be pretty dumb to argue that it's not going to happen, in the absence of some excellent evidence. So far, the evidence suggests that Tesla will in fact be around long enough for it to happen.
Don't be will
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No Ambien dreams here. Nope.
No naked short sellers, either.
For better or worse, Musk is his own enemy. Part Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field (R), part genius, part visionary, and part unredeemable a$$hole, all-in-one.
I hope the next CEO has a lot of corks to stick in his mouth, lest his lip flatulence craters his seemingly honest endeavors. Whenever they need drugs to sleep, and drugs to stay awake, it's the drugs.
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That's America, just assume people are lying to you.
s/America/Business/
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
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It's still arguably better than any other EV on the market.
Everything is arguable, but only a total fuckwit would try that argument.
It doesn't fucking exist, ergo it's infinitely worse than every other EV on the market.
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It is funny how Tesla cultists claim that they "care" about the environment, and somehow think that driving around in $60,000 electric vehicles is the way forward. It is totally irrational and insane.
This is about the fourth time I have seen you post this same ridiculous assertion. You probably have posted it more times that I just haven't seen. What the hell does the price of a car -- or ANY product -- have to do with its environmental rating?
Usually when I see "conservative" politicians arguing against environmental standards (such as MPG, lower toxic content, etc) one of their favorite tropes is that the regulation will cause the consumer to pay more.
Yet here you are with the argument "if it is
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
No. You are stupid so I will explain slowly. Expensive items are not green because normal people cannot afford them.
Congrats, you win the "most retarded comment of the week" award. Wanna try for an encore? Maybe you can follow it up with "expensive computers aren't fast because poor people can't afford them".
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Congrats, you win the "most retarded comment of the week" award. Wanna try for an encore? Maybe you can follow it up with "expensive computers aren't fast because poor people can't afford them".
I was going to respond to that comment (since it was a response I solicited) but it was so breathtakingly devoid of logic I just didn't know where to begin.
As if an expensive green choice means that no inexpensive green choices can exist. Or if that isn't the argument then what is. Seriously. I can't even
Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" (Score:2)
And yet none of that supports your assertion that "Expensive items are not green because normal people cannot afford them". But way to double-down on stupid.
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The balance of the cost to be picked up by the taxpayer, natch.
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"Terrible manager"
Unfortunately we are living in a world where actual results and accomplishments don't matter. Only the media theme-of-the-day matters.
Not for everybody of course. But too many people.
How else do you explain the current U.S. president? One business failure after another, one patched up scandal after another, serial divorces and everything he ever touched turned to shit and an unending stream of lawsuits. But to his supporters he is a business genius and a marvel of morality.
So it isn't surprising
Re:Great Story (Score:4, Insightful)
when did changing your mind become a crime
When it involves lies to manipulate you’re stock price.
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When it involves lies to manipulate youâ(TM)re stock price.
Point to the lie. Offer proof that it is a lie. And learn how apostrophes work before you send another troll our way from Mother Russia, it will assist your credibility.
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Did Musk make a statement about taking Tesla private without the approval of the Board of Directors, and did that statement result in significant movement of the stock price. Did Musk have a plan in place to ensure that the information was disseminated to all investors with reasonable expectation of simultaneity - usually accomplished with a temporary stock trading halt and/or an announcement when the major stock exchanges are closed. Did Tesla actually have $45 billion USD "arranged" when he announced th
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Did Musk make a statement about taking Tesla private without the approval of the Board of Directors,
Nobody knows.
and did that statement result in significant movement of the stock price.
Sure did. But then, anything Musk says will do that.
Did Musk have a plan in place to ensure that the information was disseminated to all investors with reasonable expectation of simultaneity - usually accomplished with a temporary stock trading halt and/or an announcement when the major stock exchanges are closed.
If Twitter is legitimate enough for the POTUS to disseminate news of firings and the like, it should be legitimate enough for Elon to make announcements about possible directions for Tesla.
Did Tesla actually have $45 billion USD "arranged" when he announced that he did?
That certainly looks like a yes so far.
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Did Musk make a statement about taking Tesla private without the approval of the Board of Directors,
Nobody knows.
Especially the board, who created a committee to look into going private [insideevs.com] about 2 weeks after his tweet. I guess the board found out when the rest of the world did - when Musk tweeted his fraud.
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Point to the lie.
Funding secured. - P.T. Musk
You would look less like a Russian troll if you spoke english. Secured doesn't mean the same thing as received. HTH, HAND Komrade!
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Secured doesn't mean the same thing as received.
This is how desperate the true believers have become.
Please, please continue to tie yourself in pretzel knots trying to explain how the investing universe naturally should have understood the words "funding secured" to mean something like "I talked to someone with a lot of money and they told me how kewl they thought I was."
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Corporations don't lie to the public, they issue press releases imagining all sorts of things. Probably would have been smarter to make all sorts of forecast about Tesla and future company directions. Like the automated home, the auto-chef kitchen, the auto-laundry, cleaning robots, new models of vehicles. Positive press releases, the only investment each requires is putting a small design and engineering team on it and add in some graphics artists and pretty press releases, driving interest in the company,
Re:Great Story (Score:5, Interesting)
when did changing your mind become a crime
Disseminating or manipulating information that can affect stock prices is tightly regulated by the SEC. Doing so in a false or misleading way can be a criminal offense.
Elon used Twitter is make an announcement that caused a big movement in Tesla's stock price. He profited big time from this by forcing many shorties to abandon their positions at a loss. Then he comes back and says "Nevermind".
There should be an SEC investigation, and if it turns out that the "investors" never existed with the capital to privatize, then there should be criminal charges.
Disclaimer: My wife owns a Tesla, and I have been accused in the past of being a Tesla-fanboi.
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"There should be an SEC investigation"
Of course there's going to be an SEC investigation. It'll probably find that Musk had no malign intent, but that he broke some rules. They'll lay a substantial fine on him more as an example to others than a punishment. He'll pay out of petty cash.
OTOH, you'd think the CEO of a substantial company would have the good sense to check with a lawyer before sending out a post on twitter (for God's sake) that might affect his company's stock price. Anyone who was looking
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1934, in this case.
I am absolutely amazed (although I don't know why) at the almost inconceivable lack of knowledge of the "real world" continually exhibited here.
Elon Musk is a fraud (Score:2, Informative)
Re: Tesla is a good investment (Score:2, Informative)
You should have sold at 320. Tesla is a liability even at $4.20. And the free ride is gone, the competition both at the top and at the bottom has come and is better.
Wut? (Score:2)
You should have sold at 320. Tesla is a liability even at $4.20. And the free ride is gone, the competition both at the top and at the bottom has come and is better.
As you wrote that, Tesla had closed at $322.
Pray, why do you think that selling at $320 would have been a good idea?
Re: Wut? (Score:2)
Probably, considering the announcement, because the actual announcement is "No buyers, dilution secured."
We'll see how the stock fares over the next few weeks.
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Here's to hoping it drops below 300. I've got a buy order in place :)
One thing I love about TSLA is the guaranteed volatility. People freak out about short-term news, and then forget all about it, then freak out about the next thing, then forget about it. You look at a graph of the stock, all of the spikes and plunges, and you have to struggle to remember what exactly it was that the market was freaking out about on any given low and why it didn't matter just weeks later.
As a long, you can always trust t
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It appears obvious now that no funding was ever secured. A nice excuse by Musk, but what else is he gonna say.
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Apparently you think that we're currently in late January?
Tesla will have had two profitable quarters by the time that the convertible notes are due.
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Musk has missed targets in the past. If you don't see how that risk has increased with the lowering of stock price, you are blind
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They were already at positive margins in Q2 without any AWD and P (heavy profit margins) in the mix. Now they're 50% of the mix. Deliveries this quarter will be three times what they were in Q2. It's not difficult math. Combine it with the restructuring in Q2 that added costs in Q2 (such as severance) to save money from Q3 onward, the cars stockpiled in Q2 (to avoid hitting the 200k limit) that have been delivered in Q3, and of course the continuing increases in production rate (reduces depreciation and la
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Of course, there are more than two choices, invest to win if it goges up, invest to win if it goes down, or seeing that the company is too volatile to know if it is going to go up *or* down reliably to bother.
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It all boils down to one thing: a black-box extrapolation of Tesla's existing capital and burn rate indicates that they will need additional funding.
Does that take into account 5000-6000 model 3's being sold per week? as opposed to 2000-3000 per week in Q2 ? that difference means 3000*40000 = 120m$ per week cash flow, half a billion per month... And I am sure the burn rate is a lot lower now that the production is up to speed.
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COGM and SG&A produces a loss of every car built. That's before any interest, R&D, etc. SG&A (sales and administrative costs related to sales) have been a consistent 20% of revenue. It doesn't scale like you say. If you look at the last 4 quarters, you'll find it consistently 20%, and as model 3 sales went from 0 to 5000 per week, their losses per car were amazingly consistent.
Additionally, your math is wrong. You are assuming they will make $40K per car they build; right now, on a COGM and
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For the first pass yield, I'm actually a bit unsure. When I buy a new car, there's a decent chance that some minor thing isn't right, and the dealer does a quick fix. It may be that first-pass quality standard could be different, as the traditional car makers are accustomed to purchasers not noticing or at worst the dealer can take care of little issues pre sales. Tesla *claims* the problems are minor and sound like the sort of stuff I've seen in cars on the lot from other vendors. In other words, that
Liar Liar factory on fire. (Score:1)
This is a metaphor for musks incompetence [cnbc.com].
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An effective fire department is your metaphor? Damage successfully contained, back to business as usual is your metaphor?
But, but, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Pure market manipulation (Score:2)
There is a name for this kind of action — market manipulation.
Get ready to enjoy the show when SEC deal with him.
Released Friday after close (Score:1)
I tole you (Score:1)
I'm not one to say I told you so, but I definitely told you so. Dude is fucked. Regardless of whether or not the SEC chooses to prosecute, they're going to be keeping a mighty close regulatory eye on him from now on.
It's a shame, too, since I was just starting to like the guy after hearing that he hangs out with Azealia Banks and drops acid on the regular.
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LSD is the last thing an obsessive workaholic would ever touch; it lasts all day and you can't focus on anything.
How have you not heard of microdosing?
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She's permabanned from Twitter, if that gives you any idea; that's not easy to achieve.
You're shitting me. It's fucking trivial to achieve. Just tweet anything coming out of California but change the word 'white' to 'black' or 'jew'. Instant fucking ban.
ah (Score:4, Interesting)
So, is Musk's way of saying if he tried to take Tesla private the board would've ousted him?
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Maybe he just misspelt "SEC investigation".
Super genius (Score:1)
More accurate title should be (Score:1)
Tesla To Stay Public. Tesla Didn't Have Funds Secured And Couldn't Get Funds. Musk Lied.
Very little respect (Score:2)
There was a time I respected him, he completely lost that respect when he attacked one of the brave cave divers in Thailand, his stock manipulations with this private/no private business just add to this dislike.
It's time the Telsa board hand him his golden flamethrower, show him to the door with his belongings in carboard boxes, and under the leadership of a professional, do
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1) Vern Unsworth was - despite a huge amount of bad reporting - not one of the rescuers. He's the guy who reported the initial information about the cave to the rescue team, as he lives nearby and had spent a lot of time exploring it.
2) Musk's comments - while inappropriate - didn't come in a vacuum. They came after Unsworth got on international television and told Musk to shove the submarine up his arse. The submarine that had been requested by Ri
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Keep talking [twimg.com].
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Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves.
He was there! Unless he's so delusional he believes he can use the "royal we" in writing?
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Lets hope he wasn't there, if his perception of Thailand is that you only go there to fuck children.
It's not a healthy worldview and does make me wonder why that's his instinctive thought.
Musk is sometimes an idiot (Score:2)
Flinging off-the-cuff ideas onto a public forum is pretty much fine for your average person. At worst, they may embarrass themselves. For an officer of a company, this is at best irresponsible, and at worst criminal.
Musk is already facing lawsuits due to his tweets. Now that he is apparently not taking Tesla private, he may be really screwed. He never did due diligence, he never did have the funding ("compliance issues"), so his tweets look even more deliberately manipulative.
At best, it is likely that he (
A pathetic charade (Score:2)
Then we got a half assed going private announcement and now the subsequent "nah we're cool the way we are" announcement. It's all damage limitation.
Musk had better learn to keep his mouth shut, or at least run tweets past the corporate lawyer or he'll end up being forced out of his own company.
Convinced? (Score:2)
I wonder what that series of meetings was like...Large Investor A asks him to keep the gravy train rolling in exchange for positive coverage by their investment bankers?
One thing I wonder about how this time period in history will be viewed is what role Twitter and other social media played overall. It's one thing to say you're privatizing your company to another CEO golf buddy, but a whole other one to tell the world and have investors freak out. Same thing with the President -- we've never had a direct li
Musk or board members will resign from Tesla (Score:2)
Haha! (Score:2)
If I was an investor (Score:2)
I would encourage Musk to delete his Twitter account. Or at least arrange it so that anything he posts to it doesn't go live for 24 hours, and ideally not until it has been vetted by an attorney.
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I suspect the board may demand that he effectively do that. Although probably not deleted -- just control relinquished. Perhaps he doesn't have the password and needs to forward things to tweet to a few people with attention spans, civility, and social filters more appropriate to an executive of a sizeable company than to a two year old in nursery school. If one of these these trusted people from every one of his ventures (SpaceX, Tesla, Boring, ???) approve, it gets sent it under Musk's account.
Own it Musk - Stop deflecting. (Score:2)
I find it interesting how Pedo Musk (if he can attribute that to someone without a shred of evidence, so can I -- and the fact that he thought to do suggests to me that maybe "pedo" is on his mind a lot, perhaps because he's worried if his laptop disks are properly encrypted?) worded part of this:
By saying "I knew" he's taking credit for the fact that
Re: He wanted to take it private to avoid sharehol (Score:2)
Musk is fine with shareholders. What he has a problem with is short sellers betting against the company.
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I wouldn't do short selling myself, but it is a natural feature of the way joint-stock corporations and open markets for the shares thereof work. If you "have a problem with short seller" you should not take your firm public.
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The plan was to go private with around 3/4ths of the current shareholders, thus capping the cost and minimizing how much of a controlling stake the Saudis would have gotten. Institutional investors control most of Tesla's stock. If there's no buy-in from the institutional investors, such a plan is impossible. Musk only owns about a fifth of Tesla; he can propose whatever he wants, in association with whoever he wants, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen.
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The SEC has a name for a privately held corporation with 4000 shareholders that trade their shares: a public corporation. That's why Microsoft had to go public in a hurry and to its majority stockholders disadvantage back in 1986: too many people were trying to trade their private shares.
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Ignoring the other trolling posts, and only responding to this non-trolling post :) You're absolutely correct (and there's also accredited investor restrictions). However, there are a number of ways to work around this to varying degrees, such as funds being among the owners of a private corporation (although there may be limits to how much of the fund can be comprised of one company), unlisted public companies owning a stake of a private corporation, etc.
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