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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

#511

Post by api »

SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #267
DennisP wrote: post #215

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.

Batteries and solar panels are pure commodities. Solar city had little in the way of new tech.

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

#512

Post by tedunangst »

romed wrote: post #178

As I said nine days ago in this box and was roundly downvoted therefor: "Good chance that Musk will get placed on the bad actors list and will be unable to serve as an officer or executive of Telsa." What I don't understand is how this took 10% of the price of Tesla shares. How is it possible that this event, which was a 100% certainty, was not already baked into the price?

The outcome wasn't 100% certain? There was supposed to be a settlement, presumably milder in sanctions, but then Musk said no thanks. The share price reflected the possibility that Musk might play nice. Now he won't; now it doesn't.

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

#513

Post by MBCook »

UpshotKnothole wrote: post #271
Animats wrote: post #246

He definitely lost it. And it's going to cost him. This is an open and shut case against Musk. He definitely sent out that tweet. Yes, maybe just not enough sleep and too many drugs. Not a good excuse. Tesla might do better with a new CEO. They're past the vision stage. Tesla's problems today are all those of running a big auto plant. Musk might do better focusing on Space-X.

At this point his biggest goal should be avoiding prison, which with the DOJ investigation and the sheer stupidity of his actions is very much on the table.

Good news. He and his team had negotiated a settlement with the SEC. Then, for some genius reason, destroyed it.

https://twitter.com/tomgara/status/1045472592595996672

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

#514

Post by bogomipz »

webninja wrote: post #484
propman wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only think of Elon as the only person to create THREE multi billion dollar companies in wildly different industries. Elon is a fantastic CEO AND visionary. I personally know people who could be making double specifically work at spacex because they believe in his vision. Elon is able to get Supreme talent and productivity for pennies on the dollar. He’s able to market Tesla and spaceX to billions with such a po…

This should be the top comment. I absolutely feel the same about Elon. We need him in this world to save us from ourselves.

>"We need him in this world to save us from ourselves."

He can't even save himself from his own bad impulses. This whole fiasco being a case in point among many. What an absurd statement to make. Speak for yourself.

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

#515

Post by zekevermillion »

btown wrote: post #504
zekevermillion wrote: post #436

The subtext is that Elon intentionally bumped the stock price to screw over short sellers like Jim Chanos. But the rationale behind 10b5 is to protect investors from fraud. Right, we are not concerned with protecting short-sellers who spend all day on twitter making up negative stories about their targets. So the underlying rationale here has to be that Elon's $420 tweet harmed regular investors who purchased TSLA at…

But 10b5 is not just about protecting investors in the company; it's about "the purchase or sale of any security" broadly. Securities representing a short on $TSLA are still securities.

This is an interesting area. I haven't thought much about it. But at a first glance (and please correct me if you are an expert) an investor with a short position has already sold his borrowed shares, with a promise to deliver back the same number of shares at a future date. He is a former shareholder, who has an obligation to a third party that depends on the reference stock price. What kind of protections such a person enjoys, I dunno. maybe there is a good law review article in that!

edit: here's a link to a law review article more or less on this issue; as I suspected, it's complicated!

47 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1003 (2005-2006)

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/73965975.pdf

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

#516

Post by brisance »

FighterMafia wrote: post #439
dabockster wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Musk is looking at possible insider trading charges. The DOJ will absolutely throw a rich guy in federal prison for that since the damage to the economy can be enormous.

Hard to be insider trading if he didn't make any trades. Which he didn't.

He may not have traded but his compensation is tied to the stock’s value. Which is a criminal offense since he is a direct beneficiary.

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

#517

Post by sizzle »

djsumdog wrote: post #68
chollida1 wrote: post #6

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…

Are Apple products different now that Jobs are gone?

https://www.fastcompany.com/3053406/how-apple-is-giving-desi...

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

#518

Post by cookiecaper »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #449
djsumdog wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I really hate this idea of the grand visionary. ... 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 thousands of people in his organizations that actually do the work. I think Elon's active perpetuation of…

Yes. Elon is not naive and no one thinks that Joe Rogan is just some secret thing that nobody watches. He went on Rogan with the intention to spread a specific message.

Practically the entire value of Musk projects is based on the myth that Elon is a mystical being bringing advanced technology to humanity. Going on Rogan and doing something to harm that belief, like diverting all credit to his "amazing team of engineers", would be far more damaging than anything else he's done.

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

#519

Post by MBCook »

RussianCow wrote: post #452
diminoten wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's good to know -- I think, based on some random article I read a month ago or so, he can beat that charge, because he had concrete knowledge about the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund being interested in helping take Tesla private. Again, I could be wrong, and I really wish I could remember where I found that article...

Musk's tweet said "Funding secured", which has a very different implication than a company simply "being interested".

Right. If he was just complaining and said he was only thinking of taking it private and talking to people he could probably get away with it.

Instead he said he heavily implied that he would take it private and already had all the money he needed from various investors.

There’s a world of difference between those two statements.

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

#520

Post by pvelagal »

ajmurmann wrote: post #496
pvelagal wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SEC suing Elon Musk is , quite frankly one of the most abhorrent actions a US govt agency can ever do against genuine American Entrepreneurship and American innovative spirit. There is not a single human being on the planet who comes close to Elon Musk when it comes to big , bold innovation and tech entrepreneurship who is putting his heart and soul into leading the human race into the future.

I love the work that Musk has done. Everyone has to play by the same rules though. We cannot bend the law because someone has otherwise done amazing work.

So how many financial execs got punished for creating the 2008 financial crisis, the worst in our lifetimes (hopefully) , which brought the world to the brink ? https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/finance/309544-why-ha...
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