Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#121

Post by Nokinside » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:43 PM UTC

_pmf_ wrote: post #97

Nokinside wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is bipolar and it's going to end with tragedy if it's not addressed.

It's strange how much Elon Musk and Nikola Tesla have in common.

If you could maintain mild hypomania (hyperthymia) endlessly without succumbing to depression or slipping to full mania most people would prefer to stay in that state forever.

People in hypomania maintain mental clarity and don't suffer from functional impairment. They have energy, confidence and increased creativity.

But it's usually just a phase between depression and mania.

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#122

Post by airstrike » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:43 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #94

dnomad wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What kind of PR effort do you need when every CFO you hire keeps leaving? It's really gotten to a point where all the Musk-haters now believe their own bullshit. This post (and many others in HN's bi-weekly anti-Musk thread) is a classic example. Tesla had had a grand total of two CFOs since Musk took over. > Could it be that that person is being pushed to stretch things a bit here and there to make them look bette…

>See, it's easy to ask stupidly leading questions and spout completely baseless speculation. What's more difficult is actually examining the facts and drawing a rational conclusion. In the first quarter of this year, the company lost Morton’s predecessor, Eric Branderiz, and Susan Repo, who was treasurer and vice president of finance. CFO Deepak Ahuja retired in 2015, only to return in 2017 after his successor, Jason…

It's a public startup company with ~$45bn of market cap.

A lot of people want to jump on the hypetrain but once they realize it takes actual work to get this company from Elon's wild dream to a steady-state market leading EV manufacturer while working under pressure from an obsessive man and near limitless public scrutiny, they immediately jump ship.

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#123

Post by smpetrey » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:43 PM UTC

Here's the none-AMP Bloomberg article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-07/tesla-chi...

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#124

Post by chollida1 » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #100

chollida1 wrote: post #3

And their Chief People Officer, is not coming back from her leave. From the outside it looks like Telsa is about going to go into a tough winter like moment. They are almost losing by winning. They are at capacity in their Fremont factory but still not making a profit. They need to start designing and building out manufacturing facilities for their next car and the help bolster Model X manufacturing. Stop and think f…

Kind of depressing that yours is the top comment, given how many outright lies it is based on. >From the outside it looks like Telsa is about going to go into a tough winter like moment. From the outside, it looks like they have a product that's a generation ahead of the competition and is flying off the shelves. > They need to start designing and building out manufacturing facilities for their next car and the help…

> Kind of depressing that yours is the top comment, given how many outright lies it is based on.

Most of the time I comment, its more to get my ideas clarified, if you think I've outright lied then please correct me.

As your comment stands you didn't actually refute any of my points.

Is the Reno factory going to be building cars if not then its irrelevant to the topic of factories to build cars with?

The China factory hasn't started yet, so I think I'm on strong footing with this.

Tesla has also been cash flow negative for not just two quarters, but almost its entire life, now to be fair to Tesla, this was by design. It's possible with all the cost cutting and M3 sales that they could be profitable in Q3 but does anyone think they have finally turned the corner and will leave their trail of losses behind them?

I'm not convinced of that:)

I'm looking for actual thoughtful dissent to change my mind, but so far you haven't actually provided any facts or even opinions to show "outright lies" in my statement.

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#125

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:45 PM UTC

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #81

matwood wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By then, the shorts (with billions in backing) will do all their best to give the company an extremely bad look. Please stop with this thought process. TSLA is doing a fine job all on its own making themselves look bad. On the business side, Musk has missed how many production estimates? There are also concerns about quality. On the personal side, he's still harping on this pedophile thing /facepalm. Then what look…

I don't think you realize how much FUD is disseminated daily in the mainstream media. Take this Reuters article for instance, which has been published and translated by dozens of top newspapers: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-germany-daimler/ele... 3rd paragraph: "The market for upscale electric cars is Tesla’s to lose, with sales of its entry-level Model 3 sedan expected to reach about 50,000 cars this yea…

Ford makes 50-90k F-150's a month without the drama.

There is no universe where Tesla will be manufacturing 25,000 (300k/12) $40-50k cars per month. BMW alone sells something like 9,000 3-series vehicles in that price range per month. It's not credible that Tesla, with a limited sales network, limited charging infrastructure, high costs and long backlog is going to magically take away double digit percentages of the highly competitive small luxury sedan market.

They have been an amazingly innovative company. Hopefully when they do bankrupt the carcass gets picked up by a company who is a good steward of the assets.

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#126

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:45 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #83

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone expect an industry leader to fake a persona in public so as to appear like the media want them to. Wall Street might want that but hey, who cares?

It's not about how the media wants him to look, or even what shareholders of his companies want, it's about how the perception of his broader endeavors. The defensive way he reacts to any kind of criticism undermines the personal image which he has worked so hard cultivate.

Why does the image thing take 80% of the headlines and conversations, while Tesla just surpassed Mercedes and BMW in sales?

Can you find one major newspaper / website who reported that info? I certainly can find dozens of articles about Musk smoking weed, and yet not a word about the fall in BMW/Mercedes sales being hit hard by the Model 3...

We wouldn't be commenting about Musk image if they media were actually talking about the 50K deliveries of Model 3. But hey, Musk prefers to cultivate (or ruin) his image I guess...

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#127

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

emptyfile wrote: post #96

goshx wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here’s a reminder of what this company is about: https://www.tesla.com/about

Pretty sure all companies are about making money, no matter what they write on their webpage.

Of course. No one doubt that Tesla and SpaceX were primarily created to make money /s

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/please-sell-our-stock-...

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#128

Post by hi5eyes » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

dnomad wrote: post #75

matwood wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sure there are problems, but what feels like massive PR efforts by the "shorts" has effectively poisoned the well for negative news. What kind of PR effort do you need when every CFO you hire keeps leaving? Think about it. The person in the company who completely knows the financials stays for a month and bounces? Why? Could it be that the financials are so bad they are unfixable? Could it be that that person i…

> What kind of PR effort do you need when every CFO you hire keeps leaving? It's really gotten to a point where all the Musk-haters now believe their own bullshit. This post (and many others in HN's bi-weekly anti-Musk thread) is a classic example. Tesla had had a grand total of two CFOs since Musk took over. > Could it be that that person is being pushed to stretch things a bit here and there to make them look bette…

CFO and Chief of HR both left? coincidence? must just be the shorts and their propagandizing

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/another-tesla-executive-leav...

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#129

Post by dnomad » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:49 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #94

dnomad wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What kind of PR effort do you need when every CFO you hire keeps leaving? It's really gotten to a point where all the Musk-haters now believe their own bullshit. This post (and many others in HN's bi-weekly anti-Musk thread) is a classic example. Tesla had had a grand total of two CFOs since Musk took over. > Could it be that that person is being pushed to stretch things a bit here and there to make them look bette…

>See, it's easy to ask stupidly leading questions and spout completely baseless speculation. What's more difficult is actually examining the facts and drawing a rational conclusion. In the first quarter of this year, the company lost Morton’s predecessor, Eric Branderiz, and Susan Repo, who was treasurer and vice president of finance. CFO Deepak Ahuja retired in 2015, only to return in 2017 after his successor, Jason…

Yeah that's not a rotating door of anything. Both those executives were with the company for 2-5 years before they decided to leave. Wheeler was almost certainly fired because Musk wanted Ahuja back. Consider that the announcement of Ahuja's return occured one day after Wheeler's announcement. Sorry, this entire narrative you have invested in of executives running for the hills just has no relation to reality.

Re: Tesla Accounting Chief, HR Head Resign on the Same Day; Stock Plunges

#130

Post by dunpeal » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #102

leesec wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be it's a very intense place to work and people who get in that position decide they don't want to work the long hours when they could be making just as much money somewhere more cushy?

You're kidding right? Any CxO position at a publicly traded company is long hours with a lot of work and responsibility.

Exactly. We can be quite sure that whatever CFO Tesla hires is well-aware of the expected workload, stress levels etc in advance.

While we don't know for sure why they resign so quickly, it has to do with something surprising that happens after they join.

The CFO and those who hire him have decades of industry experience collectively. A CFO quitting so quickly is not a result desired by any of them. This is not some fluke or a minor issue.

There's no positive way to spin this.