Elon tweeted today that he is planning to take TSLA private once its stock reaches $420. Frankly, I am thinking he is typing in his sleep. However, I certainly understand his frustration with the Koch brother short attacks and FUD. Wow, this may happen. I understand the benefits this would bring. I do wonder if it would be more difficult for Tesla to raise capital? I’ll have to read more about this, but right now I am leaning towards voting my share ‘yes’. Taking Tesla Private | Tesla UK
Source: Read Elon Musk's Letter About Taking Tesla Private | Fortune . . . Here is the letter Musk sent to Tesla’s 37,000-plus employees Tuesday afternoon: Earlier today, I announced that I’m considering taking Tesla private at a price of $420/share. I wanted to let you know my rationale for this, and why I think this is the best path forward. First, a final decision has not yet been made, but the reason for doing this is all about creating the environment for Tesla to operate best. As a public company, we are subject to wild swings in our stock price that can be a major distraction for everyone working at Tesla, all of whom are shareholders. Being public also subjects us to the quarterly earnings cycle that puts enormous pressure on Tesla to make decisions that may be right for a given quarter, but not necessarily right for the long-term. Finally, as the most shorted stock in the history of the stock market, being public means that there are large numbers of people who have the incentive to attack the company. . . . ROTFLMAO! Bob Wilson
He says (tweets) that the financing to make it happen has already been raised (or arranged?), sending the TSLA stock through the roof, and sending the shorters running for their lives. His own personal stock (he states it is 20%?) will probably go up even more, since it was, um, special ground-floor stock, although I'm not sure exactly how that works. $70B needed. Elon states that he already has the money to do it now, if the vote to go private is successful. After-market trading sent the price from the close of 379 even higher to 383. 290 a month ago. Wow. Could happen. Less chance of being fired from his own company by the board this way, but not impossible.
Elon may have caused some unwanted attention to himself for this Tweet from the SEC for possible stock manipulation. I don't think anything will come of it, but still, he needs to get off of Twitter.
I once read a leaked memo from SpaceX FROM Musk (allegedly) citing all of the reasons that SpaceX should NOT go public....something that I guess their employees were into at the time. It's really really hard to believe that this is the same guy that wrote that leaked memo. Of course....if Tesla implodes then they will always have the made-for-TV excuse of being subjected to all of the negative press, so it's a win-win for Musk.
I don’t see why? After all, he has tried both, see the advantages a private business has, and sees that as a better way forward at this point. Frankly, I agree with him, but I am just an armchair quarterback
I'm not wearing cleats either, but I can watch a baseball game on TV and be able to tell more or less who is winning the game.I it's impossible for me to believe that somebody who has a three digit IQ, AND somebody who warned employees of his (other) company about the....what?....."danger" of public and SEC and board oversight would be the SAME person who sends his other company's stock price gyrating this way and that whenever he drunk tweets. At least....I prefer to believe that they're drunk tweets. Otherwise Musk is either a moron or he's purposefully jacking with the market. Now Tesla either has to go private, or face some scrutiny from the SEC.....or we need to sick Liz Warren on the SEC.....
There are pros and cons to both private and corporate enterprise. Elon has been successful in both. He is like the mad scientist, who knows what he has in mind next.
I'm thinking that if Tesla were private, then they wouldn't have these ridiculous spikes in production at the end of each quarter, trying to meet some arbitrary goal, and wasting a lot of resources (cash) on overtime, flying in equipment in a rush, etc., etc.
A private company still has regulatory duties, just not quite as many. SpaceX could afford, barely, to go it alone. Tesla has to have the access to capital that going public offered. At this point, on the point of becoming profitable on a steady basis, Tesla has more advantages going private, than staying in the meat grinder of public companies.
Since announcing intention to go private and the stock shooting up to $370 (as of this post) has gobsmacked the Tesla shorters and skeptics. Literally they are going into the stages of grief starting with denial. Bob Wilson
Yesterday’s market action was interesting. It traded basically flat. Some people are guessing the ‘professional’ shorts have continued convincing other shorts to increase their positions allowing th e professional shorts to get out at current prices. It should be a very interesting few months.
activist investor ross gerber says 'apple is boring, and tesla is exciting'. as for elon musks idiosyncrasies, gerber says 'you can't invest with a genius and expect normalcy'.
