Posted on 05/05/2018 5:28:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attacked sell-side analysts from Bernstein and RBC apparently because they supported short sellers of Tesla stock.
If you were the CEO of a company that had been around for 15 years, never posted an annual profit, but had seen a nearly 1,000% appreciation in your stock and were considered — by some — to be the reincarnation of either Leonardo da Vinci or Thomas Edison, would you take to Twitter to pick fights with an obscure group of finance wonks who ask you somewhat difficult questions after you were required by US securities law to disclose that you lost over $700 million in three months?
You would if you were the new Elon Musk, who once hovered above the Wall Street fray but now realizes that he's far more dependent on the capital markets than he ever wanted to be.
If you haven't been keeping up, Musk flipped out on a call with analysts on Wednesday after Tesla announced another huge quarterly loss.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
They’ve, routinely, sold packages to people in low income areas before approval from the utility companies. The homeowner can owe the utility company anywhere from $750 to $60K.(personal knowledge) Utility companies can decide to pass or not the application based on system conditions.
The main reason he hasn’t taken SpaceX public. He doesn’t want to put up with all the constant wall street pestering.
As I recall Apple didn’t get all these big gubermint hand outs initially that Tesla has. Steve built Apple from the ground (or shall I say garage) up with Steve W. from their own initiative and ingenuity (bringing in real investors rather than including the government.)
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When Musk left home, he showed up in Canada with a high school diploma, and a phone number for a distant relative. He worked on their farm and got a dangerous job cleaning a boiler in a lumber yard because it paid the most money. He paid for his first couple of years of college by running a nightclub on the weekends in his rented home. He then got a scholarship to an Ivy League school and got a degree from Wharton like Donald Trump.
At his first startup company in Silicon Valley he slept on a bean bag chair in his office. He sold that company and used the proceeds to start an online bank that became Paypal. When he sold Paypal, he put most of the money into SpaceX and Tesla. When both companies neared bankruptcy he went all in with his money to save them.
Most of his money these days comes from borrowing against his stock holdings. He only gets paid minimum wage as a legal requirement, but doesn’t cash the checks.
I’d say he’s done at least as well as Jobs in the area of making his own way. If you don’t like the subsidies, then bitch and moan about the government providing them.
Musk has used his shares as collateral for an estimated $800 Million Plus in loans to finance his lifestyle.
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I don’t know if that figure is right, but the loans are because he doesn’t take a salary.
TESLA certainly has the sleek design and foundation in which to build on. But then again. There are the debts are there not? I guess that depends and is also market driven? Certainly something to be considered. We'll see what happens.
Selling Tesla might be a wise decision given what soon unfolds for Musk. Sometimes you have to kill your babies (another name for the brilliant little writings that don't fit the larger novel--but hard to let your ego go for the larger good of one's vision) for the novel to survive.
But that would give Tesla a new life as well if it the outlook begins to look grim.
understandable. Especially for him.
He is the owner of SpaceX, and a new satellite internet company which will use SpaceX to launch satellites in the next couple of years.
I think Tesla will only go down if Musk decides not to keep investing in it with income from SpaceX.
Tesla has dominated the large luxury car market for years, and they rate at the top in customer satisfaction, too.
If Musk were happy with that, Tesla would be a nice little profitable company. But he’s a big risk taker and he does have a big vision. He’s been investing in the expansion of the company and new products. That’s why they aren’t profitable yet.
This decision (to not take a salary—But yet take out loans) is curious. I guess it is because he doesn’t want to strain the financials. Yet. He does in thought it will be paid off with the impeding profit?
I think Tesla will only go down if Musk decides not to keep investing in it with income from SpaceX.
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What evidence do you have of that?
Be nice. Instead of stupid use mathematically challenged.
Maybe it helps him avoid California taxes. I don’t know. Why does Donald Trump not take a salary?
My apologies. ;)
Evidence of a choice he has to make in the future? None. But I do think he will have to make the choice to put more money in to Tesla.
I always thought he was a genius for one of three reasons - 1. Increases stock 1000% with never making a profit 2. An inncrdible salesman (should have been in the oil business selling prospects), or 3) suck buddies with the former president and living off of government subsidies.
Income means nothing when you’re wealthy.
That’s why d-bag Buffett doesn’t take much in salary, so he can stand on his high horse.
Here is a link on Musk and his shares. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-28/will-elon-musk-be-next-ceo-face-margin-call-death-spiral
Even though he doesn’t get a salary, would you really want to borrow that kind of money against your shares? If he needed money he could sell some, unless there is a provision that he can’t.
Tesla is running through money and unless he wants to tap the Bond Markets for more money what is the next step?
Musk has run this game a good while and I think he is about out of steam and hyperbole.
The norm in most thought is plans is 3-5 years.
Oh I missed that you said he used his shares as collateral for his loans. So they are not unsecured. Well he’s got quite the strong stomach for risk. I’ll give him that. I do respect his visionary self and his gonads. I am critical however of government subsidies and also curious about his thinking as he progresses forward. (sort of explaining all my previous posts on this thread for some reason ;D) Curious man this Musk man.
Tesla has a big upside in the commercial trucking sector. To get there though, Musk has to ride this roadster ruse long enough to get the technology mature. If Tesla becomes a viable passenger car company along the way, all the better.
The big downside to Tesla cars is that no matter how much you pay for one, you will never really own it. Musk (or more likely one of his creditors or a malicious actor) could brick the entire fleet remotely with a software update.
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