Taking Tesla Private • Hacker News Board

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#91

Post by sailingparrot » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:55 PM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #78

nine_k wrote: post #16

> 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. > SpaceX is a perfect example: it is far more operatio…

Isn't SpaceX success due to the fact that most of its orders come from the US government while Tesla has to compete in the free market and isn't that successful there?

> and isn't that successful there?

Having 2 years worth of production in the backlog is not successful?

Ok then.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#92

Post by eastendguy » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:55 PM UTC

cam3ham wrote: post #74

eastendguy wrote: post #24

Can someone please ELI5 this for me? Why is a private Tesla better? As long as Elon and employees own more than 51% of the stock (do they?), can't they not just ignore the stock price swings?

read the article?

You mean the email? "...I fundamentally believe that we are at our best when everyone is focused on executing, when we can remain focused on our long-term mission," => what difference does private or public make for this?

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#93

Post by peeters » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

take4 wrote: post #75

peeters wrote: post #35

The main question I have is about financing. If Elon owns 20% of the company now, and he doesn't intend for that to change, and he is giving the option of public shareholders to sell at $420, then who is financing this? Usually a private takeover requires a partnership with a huge private equity firm. Wouldn't releasing this without having (or identifying) that partner be premature? And wouldn't the resulting stabili…

> CNBC reports that none of the Wall Street banks it contacted were aware of any transaction or had committed to funding a leveraged buyout of Tesla.

So there's the real story. Who is this financer (or group) with ~40 billion in capital that is willing to bet long on Tesla? That's really interesting to me, if Musk is being truthful here.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#94

Post by SheinhardtWigCo » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #85

patrickaljord wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't SpaceX success due to the fact that most of its orders come from the US government while Tesla has to compete in the free market and isn't that successful there?

isn't that successful there? What?

“Hasn’t yet made any money there” would be more accurate.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#95

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

eastendguy wrote: post #24

Can someone please ELI5 this for me? Why is a private Tesla better? As long as Elon and employees own more than 51% of the stock (do they?), can't they not just ignore the stock price swings?

It's better from the company perspective because the truth Tesla as a public firm is required to regularly disclose keeps undermining the puffery Tesla is pushing to generate consumer-focussed media interest.

Being private gives them much better control of public information.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#96

Post by Diederich » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #78

nine_k wrote: post #16

> 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. > SpaceX is a perfect example: it is far more operatio…

Isn't SpaceX success due to the fact that most of its orders come from the US government while Tesla has to compete in the free market and isn't that successful there?

NASA certainly did save SpaceX early on with some funding and contracts, which SpaceX fully delivered on at a competitive price.

I'm not going to look it up right now, but for now and the past several years, most of SpaceX's income has come from sources outside of NASA. That is, commercial launches.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#97

Post by glbrew » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

I would like to make a prediction: the Saudi Royal Family is the funding source. There are very few banks that could back this financially, and they have all said they are not behind it. The only source of this much money and secrecy is the House of Saud. They apparently also snapped up to 5% of public shares, and have expressed lots of interest in investing in the "new" economy.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#98

Post by gameswithgo » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

patrickaljord wrote: post #78

nine_k wrote: post #16

> 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. > SpaceX is a perfect example: it is far more operatio…

Isn't SpaceX success due to the fact that most of its orders come from the US government while Tesla has to compete in the free market and isn't that successful there?

The free market of automobile manufacturing in which the USA has propped up both GM and Ford, and in the past Chrysler? The one in which the Japanese government is carefully intertwined with their automotive industry?

The government is a customer of space x but they still compete against other companies for that business.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#99

Post by delinka » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #85

patrickaljord wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't SpaceX success due to the fact that most of its orders come from the US government while Tesla has to compete in the free market and isn't that successful there?

isn't that successful there? What?

>...isn't all that successful in the free market?

That's the intended question. Though I don't know what GP's definition of "success" is.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#100

Post by qaq » Tue, Aug 07, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

martinald wrote: post #38

Pretty enormous amount of money required. Say half of TSLA shareholders take the $420, that's approx ~$40bn required. Then there's another $10bnish of debt refinancing required, and probably many more billion for future product development and new assembly lines. I don't think Softbank could finance this, it would be well over half their entire fund. Saudi maybe - but still quite a chunk of change for them.

I would imagine he talked to his institutional investors it could be far less than half.