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Taking Tesla Private

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Re: Taking Tesla Private

#171

Post by jonknee »

joezydeco wrote: post #79
synaesthesisx wrote: post #14

As an investor since 2012 I think Tesla would be far more operationally efficient private. Also a bit of schadenfreude but I've personally enjoyed watching Wall Street shorts collectively lose hundreds of millions of dollars over this.

Might be in the tens of billions before this is all said and done. (~34 million short shares outstanding * $420/share = ~14 billion dollars to cover. Is my math wrong?)

Sure, but they didn't start from zero. If you sold short at $350 the amount to cover is $70. Options are also a common way to hedge, so it's really hard to say what the total loss would be.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#173

Post by toomuchtodo »

annamargot wrote: post #136

How will Tesla get around the shareholder limit? There is a limit to the number of shareholders a privately held company can have. It's apparently 2,000. http://blog.gust.com/limiting-the-number-of-shareholders-in-... https://www.investopedia.com/terms/5/500-shareholder-thresho...

You would own shares in a private fund that would own Tesla shares.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#174

Post by _ea1k »

avree wrote: post #125
Diederich wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on that, please?

Wall Street investors and analysts focus heavily on the bottom line. Elon believes that the work Tesla is doing requires more time, sustained attention, and focus than public investors have tolerance for. Furthermore, he thinks the volatility demotivates employees. These are all completely true, and very reasonable, but do show (at least to me) that the near-term promises regarding profitability he made at the last e…

I agree with your assessment. It seemed clear that Tesla was cutting back investment in new supercharger locations and maybe even service centers to reach profitability. I can't say that now felt like the best time for that kind of slowdown to me.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#175

Post by austenallred »

orcdork wrote: post #138
gameswithgo wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go ahead and like the guy!

He's smart, and also a monumental dickwad. I'd expect people that dislike him to do so for the latter, not the former. (i'm on that boat too)

Honestly I think he has a mental deficiency, so I try to give him an enormous benefit of the doubt. He's clearly on the spectrum.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#176

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

peeters wrote: post #135
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be anyone from Masayoshi Son to Yuri Milner to Blackstone. Or a consortium of several. They wouldn't have to come up with the full valuation, only need enough to buy out those who wish to sell. Articles/Bylaws would likely give Musk control, even though he only holds 20%.

> Articles/Bylaws would likely give Musk control, even though he only holds 20%. But Articles and Bylaws can be rewritten at the whim of the majority shareholder, no? I don't doubt that's how it would be initially structured (otherwise it would just be a hostile takeover) I'm just saying it's putting Tesla's future in the hands of whoever holds the most shares.

Google has three classes of shares: A, B and C. A shares get one vote, C shares get none and B shares get 10 votes. Brin, Page, Schmidt own all the B shares. [1]

For FB, Zuck holds a class of shares where each of his counts as 10 vs. the common shares.[2]

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/052215/goog-or...

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/shareholders-wont-force-zuck...

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#178

Post by mrtron »

ckastner wrote: post #58

I don't like the guy (and it's obvious from my comments), but this move is brilliant on so many levels. The short sellers just got taken to the cleaners, badly . By taking the company private, he's under less public and regulatory scrutiny. It's probably easier for him to raise money privately, and there seems to be sufficient interest. Tesla's employees, who are probably pretty much worn out, got a nice pay day. And…

Why don't you like the guy? I am always surprised that people could have a net negative opinion on someone who is trying hard to push technology forward in multiple directions.

I agree this move is brilliant, and could be a huge competitive advantage when self-driving bad press liability kicks in.

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#179

Post by mikestew »

reaperducer wrote: post #144
fizixer wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which "free" market are you "prohibited" from selling your product directly to customers? [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes

Liquor.

Depending upon one's state of residence, the liquor market can be anything but "free".

(Just off the top of my head, tiffs between Costco and distributors when Costco wanted to sell liquor.)

Re: Taking Tesla Private

#180

Post by TrickyRick »

dunpeal wrote: post #32
S_A_P wrote: post #11

I am a bit ignorant as to the mechanics of how this would work. Can anyone with the knowledge elaborate on what this means? Im thinking in terms of a few scenarios here: 1) I read this news and want to get on the Tesla train and throw all my liquidity into the current stock. 2) I already have x number of shares. What happens to them? 3) If I dissent, am I cut a check and told to hit the bricks? 4) is he going to need…

1. You can buy TSLA stock as soon as trading them resumes. Lots of people already have. 2. If this acquisition goes through, each one of your stocks will be worth $420. Congrats. 3. You can't really dissent to shareholder majority agreeing to this deal. 4. $70bn is a lot of mulla, so I would guess this will not be all Musk's personal funds. 5. Theoretically, through some sort of a private equity venue. Just like any…

Or an alternative to number 2, the acquisition does not go through and the stock plummets 20% from current price and you're now deeply in the red. I don't know enough about Tesla to predict which one is the mos likely but I have seen this happen in other companies.
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