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SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

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Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#291
post #204

I very much hate to see this. Not for Musk's sake, as he has been pretty much asking for something like this to happen. I hate it because of the damage it will do to Tesla and SpaceX when he's likely banned from leading a company. Tesla's not exactly lighting the world on fire in terms of potential long term success, but SpaceX really has been doing well in recent years. The fact that they are already refurbishing so…

SpaceX is not a public company so I don't see how a ban would affect Musk w/ r.t. SpaceX. also, otoh: think about the good things that could happen to $TSLA when Elon is removed from being a CEO.

Not sure though. SpaceX is a federal contractor. And to be at the helm of a company with federal access, you might need a clean record. When Musk was smoking pot on radio, the AirForce had to look into it to see if there was any actions they needed to take.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#292
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So then the iPhone was nothing new either?

Affirmative.

Yes it wasn't new per se, they didn't created first mobile phone with a touchscreen, but you can't deny that this one device single handedly shifted direction of entire industry. Similar things, just not in that scale is happening with watch. In reality no other smartwatch is even close to the Apple Watch. There is no competition. Same as with an iPad or the iPods before that.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#293
While there isn't much doubt that Musk is at fault here, I wonder how a business owner should react when perceiving that his company is threatened by some journalists and (social) media influencers who seemingly have ties with short sellers. I understand that shorting helps stabilize markets but in this case with Tesla being the most shorted stock it seems that forces were at work to stain the company's reputation in order in order to prevent important losses. Seems unethical to me as well, but maybe I am being very naive here.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#294

This comment I made a few weeks ago is coming alot closer to the truth than I would have expected. I hope for Space X and Tesla's sake that the reports of a directory and Executive ban don't come true. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18016250#18016292 SpaceX is doing well, Tesla has pulled itself back from the brink and may actually become a profitable car company. All Elon had to do was keep his head down and n…

I'd hope the company itself would be fine. I really hate this idea of the grand visionary. A good friend of mine who is a mechanical engineer despises Musk. I listened to a bit of his Joe Regan interview and when Regan asked him how he has the time to do all of the things he does, there are smoke jokes about him being an alien, but not once did he say, "Well I have an amazing team of engineers" and credit all the tho…

My take from the Joe Rogan interview was that Elon is preoccupied/passionate when it comes to technology and engineering. Not pointing out that he obviously has a great team doesn't seem like much of an oversight to me. He didn't attempt to hide behind a facade, playing the super-CEO role, full of faux self deprecation and verbal gold stars for his team.

Perhaps I'm a little more generous in my interpretation of the interview, but to me, he just seemed like an awkward guy, who wanted to work on engineering cool stuff.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is it a private company, but "A Musk trust owns 54 percent of the outstanding stock of SpaceX, and has voting control of 78 percent of the outstanding shares....No other shareholder owns 10 percent or more." Short of a criminal conviction I think he'll be fine with SpaceX. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-spacex-shareholders... Given that Musk has made his point with electric cars and major luxury br…

The battery and solar operations side of TSLA are critical to spaceX's mission to Mars. Can't have a martian colony without being able to harvest and store energy. Additionally the CV being done at Tesla could prove critical in automating prefabrication of living spaces and life support infrastructure. Can't be doing anything like that remote controlled with 8 min latency.

Tesla is not the only provider of batteries and solar panels, and could sell them to SpaceX even if Musk isn't the CEO of Tesla. There is some technology sharing between the companies, but even that could continue. Lots of companies collaborate without sharing a CEO.

(Incidentally, a Mars colony could also use NASA's new fission reactor designed for space missions. It's likely that NASA will be deeply involved in the effort anyway.)

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know whether he's using CAD but Musk did learn a lot of rocket science. According to aerospace consultant Jim Cantrell, one of his early hires, Musk essentially memorized several textbooks on rocket science, learned more from experts he talked with, and holds his own in engineering discussions. Sorry for the Business Insider link but this was the best I could google at the moment; Mercury Reader can get aroun…

Musk does not do any engineering at all.

I posted a source. Can you?

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#297
post #4

What would be the argument in his defense?

The shorts against Tesla were enormous. Millions (billions?) were put against Tesla. You can't tell me that the shorters did not invest extra money to make their short profitable. That extra money would go into PR to make Tesla look like failing company. That is not fair play either... Basically Musk gave a punch back after being bullied and stressed.

Self-defense?

Also the Tweet started with: "I am thinking of". Not matter of fact, but just announcing what you are thinking of.

Anyway... maybe he can be CEO by proxy or focus more on leading the engineers.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There really isn't. According to the case [1]. On Nov 23rd, 2013 Telsa filled Form 8-K with the SEC that Elon's twitter account was a means of official company communication. So they can't say this wasn't Musk or Telsa's responsibility, or that the statement was unofficial. It was an official company statement meant to deceive investors. I think the best he can hope for is a plea bargain, or that the SEC made a cleri…

”meant to deceive investors” That’s not necessarily true, and, I guess, what his lawyers will contest. I’m not a lawyer, but I guess that whether there was an intent to deceive can make a difference in sentencing, just as it is with murder vs voluntary manslaughter.

Questions of intent are likely also much more significant in the DOJ criminal investigation.

Edit to add: I suspect that questions of harm are more relevant than intent in this civil proceeding though, given the violation is about making material statements which are false or misleading.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#299

This comment I made a few weeks ago is coming alot closer to the truth than I would have expected. I hope for Space X and Tesla's sake that the reports of a directory and Executive ban don't come true. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18016250#18016292 SpaceX is doing well, Tesla has pulled itself back from the brink and may actually become a profitable car company. All Elon had to do was keep his head down and n…

>Tesla has pulled itself back from the brink and may actually become a profitable car company This is a very very generous assessment of the dire financial situation TSLA is in. At best they have hit their production at the expense of quality which will only temporarily offset their costs. Any sustainable mid-term profitability is a very big question mark at this point.

I thought the narrative was they just need to get through the short term before production stabilizes and is able to meet demand.

I do feel there is a difference between Tesla the car, and Tesla the company. Tesla the car is still the most desirable electric on the market. Tesla the company is a different story altogether.

Re: SEC Sues Musk and Seeks Ban for His Tweets on Go-Private Deal

#300
post #30

On one hand, the $420 tweet was just blatantly obviously a bad idea and he should have known better. On the other hand, it feels... strange somehow that a joke (if a slightly deadpan one) has consequences this severe. It affected the markets and it obviously wasn't without real-world consequences in any case, but something about this all just feels a little off somehow.

I wonder if they will be able to demonstrate that any damage was actually done. The $420 tweet had a reverse effect in the end, not what most people would expect from such a tweet.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/95otw7/just...
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