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 ...
I heard him snap at the investors on that recent conference call and I was really amazed.
I thought I’d hear some of their “boring questions” and in fact they were extremely reasonable.
I’m a big Elon fan and I was shocked.
This is just the second time that I think the strain is really, REALLY beginning to show.
In before the Elon Musk is God crowd.
The gravy train has left the station.
A relative works in sales at Solar City. It’s obvious that Musk is sucking money out of Solar City anyway he can to feed his Tesla addiction. Pillaging Solar city will drive out those that can meet and exceed the monthly sales quota.
I've not been tracking Musk's company as much as I've been tracking the personality an Elon Musk the man. I wonder how much and how well he has laid the groundwork for hiring the right people and building a functional base of a business.
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.)
I guess this is the point where HOW the business foundation was built really starts to show in the stress fractures of growth.
As I'm not paying much attention to Tesla and how it grew, can others weigh in on my thoughts? From what I know, this is what I think has gone wrong. We from Musk a millenial dependency (thinking government and hand outs are good) that is showing that style (government intervention/handouts) of company building only goes so far.
Why are you a big Elon Musk fan? Tesla is going to go belly up, probably within the next 12 to 18 months if not before.
Musk has used his shares as collateral for an estimated $800 Million Plus in loans to finance his lifestyle.
Without the tax breaks for those that buy his cars he is on deep trouble. When Tesla goes broke the market for his cars new and used is gone as well as getting any spare parts.
He is more con artist than anything else and the laws of physics and battery technology were never there for all the claims he made. If I had the money I would short Tesla.
This guy has been propped up by government subsidies for 15 years, and still doesn’t have a profitable company. According to an LA Times article in 2015, Tesla was riding on $ 4.9 Billion in government subsidy already then.
He had a window of opportunity in the electric car market, but everyone else is catching up. If Tesla loses it’s aura as a ‘visionary’ company, they will fall by the wayside. It’s astounding to me that Tesla stock ever hit $300/share. Over 58% of the holders of Tesla stock are institutions, and they will be the ones to get away unscathed if everything plummets. They are also likely the ones who have been pushing for continued subsidies of Tesla and encouraging glowing market reviews of the stock.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Solar City are scum that prey on the stupid and elderly.
He’s a gambler. With a Hillary presidency and a rapacious EPA, Musk would have made billions. With a freer market, he has to hope GM or Toyota feels enough social pressure to bail him out. Doubt he’ll be homeless regardless.
I find it interesting he is 'dabbling' in two areas where liberal governments would predictably throw HUGE cash his way to subside their liberal fantasy world vision of electric cars and solar driven reality.
On this assumption I believe Musk's business plan was and is all along to get the government to fund him and his life. But oh damn! He's finding out the only way to do that is to get a government job.
Nancy Pelosi has a steady income as does anyone else she wants to help subsidize. Musk made the wrong, long term, career investment. Should have become a politician. Then he really could have a sustained life of ripping us taxpayers off.
I heard him snap at the investors on that recent conference call and I was really amazed.
I thought I’d hear some of their “boring questions” and in fact they were extremely reasonable.
I’m a big Elon fan and I was shocked.
This is just the second time that I think the strain is really, REALLY beginning to show.
...
He messed up and he’s admitted to some extent that he did mess up. He probably is under a lot of pressure. Tesla is in the middle of a big ramp up on the Model 3 right now. If it’s successful Tesla stock will jump because it’s so heavily shorted.
The stock price is holding up pretty well, too.
He always has his actress ex wife and ex girlfriends to shack up with. ;D But oh gee. They latter already spend all that money he gave her. But yes. Since he’s so good at getting hand outs, I’ve no doubt he’ll be fine.
SpaceX.
but barely
That’s right! Thanks!
Care to elaborate?
Well Jobs and Apple were mentioned earlier. I think Apple and their corporate viewpoint would be the ideal white knight for Tesla. They were thinking of an Apple car a year or so ago so why not just buy Tesla and put the applecar name on it instead. Apple has the bucks for sure to keep Tesla going for a long time if they were so inclined.
Thoughts?
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