Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit • Hacker News Board

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#31

Post by notaki » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:13 AM UTC

GW150914 wrote: post #25

cperciva wrote: post #24

Is Elon Musk really an asset that Tesla needs to hold onto? I'll admit that he's a great salesman; but he's also a spoiled child who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way. If Tesla wants to be taken seriously as a car company -- rather than as a maker of toys for people who have too much money on their hands -- they might well be better off calling his bluff.

Tesla is facing the prospect of needing to sell a honking load of stock at a discount to deal with their debt, and to do that they need a high stock price. While Musk appears to be a liability in many areas, he is the focus for a cult of personality that has made Tesla what it is, and has shown incredible talent for inflating the price of Tesla’s stock on that basis. So while Tesla as a healthy company without crushi…

Uh, yeah, ok.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#32

Post by pbreit » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:19 AM UTC

alphabettsy wrote: post #21

This makes no sense to me. If the reporting is correct he screwed up by sending the Tweet without having an actual deal or planning in place. I’m hugely inspired by the guy and think he’s brilliant to the point of being a bit of a fanboy, but I also think everyone should have to follow the law and play by the rules even if they are brilliant.

He had planned it including a communication to the board. he had talked to at least 1 investor plus himself so felt he could round up the funding. His other company has overcome the shareholder limit. He said he was “considering” it. It was twitter. Shareholders are much better with him at the helm. Etc, etc.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#33

Post by notaki » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:21 AM UTC

This is just another negative Tesla article from the nytimes. Nothing new, and in the long run it doesn't matter. Elon and Tesla are changing the world for the better. Tesla is growing exponentially and produced 80k cars last quarter. That's what matters.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#34

Post by unethical_ban » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:24 AM UTC

kirillzubovsky wrote: post #8

These articles about Elon are interesting to me because Tesla could not have become such a valuable car company in such a short time if it wasn't for Elon, and that includes his personality. Yet, many couch investors would prefer to have a CEO who is stable, boring and predictable. People want to put their money in for steady long-term returns, and not worry. Tesla is doing wild things which are causing crazy growth,…

I can want a risk taking, belligerent CEO with huge expectations that demand results.

I can also want that same person not to make unfounded, potentially illegal, and highly monitored claims regarding the company's trading status that could land them in court.

And not insult rescuers as pedophiles, etc.

Basically, what chipotle_coyote said.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#35

Post by dragosmocrii » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:24 AM UTC

Personally, I think Elon Musk wants out of Tesla. The things he did lately, all point to this conclusion. Maybe he lost vision or interest in the company, but leaving from his own will would jeopardize the future of the company, since most of Tesla's backers are fans of him. Arranging himself an exit in this way, would make it look as he's the victim left with no choice but leave.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#36

Post by sunstone » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:31 AM UTC

Blah, blah blah, did anyone notice that Tesla pushed out 80,000 of the best cars on earth during the last quarter?

Some people think that just happens by accident. If so the other car makers can only hope that they wind up in such an automotive accident.

Musk has more than proved his capabilities between SpaceX, Tesla, Hyperloop and PayPal.

OK he's a little idiosyncratic, well, driven people are like that. They are not like us.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#37

Post by samfisher83 » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:33 AM UTC

The deal sounded pretty good. They should just fire him. Maybe he is not the leader they need right now.Maybe he will mellow out after getting fired.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#38

Post by Reedx » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:34 AM UTC

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #26

kirillzubovsky wrote: post #8

These articles about Elon are interesting to me because Tesla could not have become such a valuable car company in such a short time if it wasn't for Elon, and that includes his personality. Yet, many couch investors would prefer to have a CEO who is stable, boring and predictable. People want to put their money in for steady long-term returns, and not worry. Tesla is doing wild things which are causing crazy growth,…

I'm going to push back against this narrative, because it seems a lot of the "let Elon be Elon" arguments are neatly encapsulated in this line: Tesla is doing wild things which are causing crazy growth, but also crazy panic. But the critics of Musk's behavior would respond, I think correctly, that there is a categorical difference between "wild things which cause crazy panic because they are high risk with high upsid…

Indeed, but at end of the day he's human and sometimes we say stupid things driven by emotion.

You have to weigh the good and the bad, and thus far I'd say it's no contest. Elon has contributed far more upside.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#39

Post by apatters » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:35 AM UTC

If the fine is intended to be punitive or act as a deterrent, it surely fails. Musk's net worth is over $20B, so a $20M fine is It's a joke really, most Americans are lucky to even have a positive net worth. A traffic ticket hurts your average American much more than this fine hurts Musk and he committed a much larger crime than parking in the wrong spot.

Re: Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Tesla: Fight the S.E.C., or I Quit

#40

Post by vilhelm_s » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 5:35 AM UTC

kirillzubovsky wrote: post #11

gok wrote: post #6

> They had passed on Thursday’s generous offer, and the S.E.C. felt compelled to extract greater concessions. The ban on Mr. Musk’s serving as chairman went from two years to three, and his fine doubled to $20 million. Tesla will also pay a $20 million fine, and Mr. Musk agreed to personally buy the same amount in Tesla stock. The extra year of not being chairman seems immaterial if threatening to quit got the board…

No, under the settlement he gets to claim perpetual innocence (ie. no intention of doing $420 on purpose). For him 10m is spare change, so long as it means he gets to maintain integrity. Also, as reported in another article, this non-admission of guilt makes it much harder for the DOJ to go after him with a criminal case.

According to the article, the settlement does not let him proclaim innocence (but it doesn't require him to admit guilt). As I read the article, this part was the unchanged between the SEC's first offer and the eventual settlement.