Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#21

Post by tinco » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:01 AM UTC

avip wrote: post #10

tinco wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the board, and supposedly Musk is being replaced to get a little bit more financial responsibility in Tesla. If Ms. Denholm has a bad track record, then that might not be good news, but I would assume Ms. Denholm was not an impulsive choice, and the board has good reason to seperate her abilities from Telstra's bad performance.

And you'll asses his "financial responsibility" based on the short-term movements of a stock in a regulation-first market?

I'm not assessing anything, I think the guy is the greatest person ever put on this planet. I'm just saying what I think the board is doing.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#22

Post by htk » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:03 AM UTC

spuz wrote: post #16

louismerlin wrote: post #13

Awesome Recode Decode interview featuring Musk from last week : https://www.recode.net/2018/11/2/18053428/recode-decode-full...

I'm not sure how you can like this interview. It's extremely combative and the questions from the interviewer seem childish like she is deliberately not listening to Elon's answers. I'm no Elon fan but this is impossible to listen to.

Kara Swisher is like that sometimes, and I don't like it too. On Steve Jobs last interview to her and Mossberg, Mossberg was trying to capture how Steve thinks, but Kara was only interested in the current event of apple dropping google on the maps app.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#23

Post by sytelus » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:07 AM UTC

dwd wrote: post #19

roenxi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telstra's major asset is a large copper telecommunications network. The government, as a matter of policy, is tearing that network up and replacing it with a publicly owned fiber network. This is not a great situation for Telstra, to say the least. This has been going on for a while, but a hazy memory suggests there have been shenanigans afoot regarding cash compensation for the damage done - that could cause all sor…

Shenanigans is an understatement. The government "compensated" Telstra for giving up it's network monopoly and after dropping Labor's plan of fiber to the property for existing connections bought the copper network anyway so Telstra double dipped. I've already had my NBN connection out for a whole week due to a failure in the copper.

So previously a private company monopolized the business and now government would monopolize it. I wonder which one is the worse...

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#24

Post by jdck1326 » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:09 AM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #23

dwd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shenanigans is an understatement. The government "compensated" Telstra for giving up it's network monopoly and after dropping Labor's plan of fiber to the property for existing connections bought the copper network anyway so Telstra double dipped. I've already had my NBN connection out for a whole week due to a failure in the copper.

So previously a private company monopolized the business and now government would monopolize it. I wonder which one is the worse...

The private company one is worse

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#25

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:10 AM UTC

NamTaf wrote: post #18

roenxi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telstra's major asset is a large copper telecommunications network. The government, as a matter of policy, is tearing that network up and replacing it with a publicly owned fiber network. This is not a great situation for Telstra, to say the least. This has been going on for a while, but a hazy memory suggests there have been shenanigans afoot regarding cash compensation for the damage done - that could cause all sor…

It's been an issue long before the NBN. Even after the dot-com bust, through the ADSL roll-out era where their wholesale arm had a stranglehold on the network, plus the high speed cable network from Foxtel, they've consistently mismanaged themselves and failed to deliver for shareholders despite their incredible advantages relative to other players. For example, the T2 float in 1999 was done at about $7.50. It took u…

I just want to chime in here to say: when I recently tried to purchase an iPhone SE from Telstra's online store, the device was out of stock. They couldn't tell me when they expected to have it back in stock, or it was being end-of-lifed. No straight answers.

I spent 15 hours, over two weeks, on the phone to Telstra trying to get the order cancelled and my money back. I gave up with that.

And went in to a Telstra owned Telstra store and politely but sternly demanded my money back by asking the managed to call his escalation point(s) until he found someone who could authorise the return of my money.

After half an hour he was asking me to leave and I repeatedly said "not until I have my money back". I wasn't being threatening at all, rather I was pleading with him to understand my position.

He picked up his mobile and said he was dialling the police.

That's how Telstra treats it's customers.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#26

Post by mmjaa » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:14 AM UTC

throwaway0255 wrote: post #11

tinco wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the board, and supposedly Musk is being replaced to get a little bit more financial responsibility in Tesla. If Ms. Denholm has a bad track record, then that might not be good news, but I would assume Ms. Denholm was not an impulsive choice, and the board has good reason to seperate her abilities from Telstra's bad performance.

> The rest of the board, and supposedly Musk is being replaced to get a little bit more financial responsibility in Tesla. He’s being replaced as consideration for a settlement agreement with the SEC. It seems likely Tesla chose Denholm because they have a bad PR problem, and it will be difficult for media companies to portray her as a villain.

.. which is odd, given how much of a villain she is in the Australian context.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#27

Post by jypepin » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:16 AM UTC

htk wrote: post #22

spuz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how you can like this interview. It's extremely combative and the questions from the interviewer seem childish like she is deliberately not listening to Elon's answers. I'm no Elon fan but this is impossible to listen to.

Kara Swisher is like that sometimes, and I don't like it too. On Steve Jobs last interview to her and Mossberg, Mossberg was trying to capture how Steve thinks, but Kara was only interested in the current event of apple dropping google on the maps app.

Sometimes? She is always like that. Once she has someone in her grip, she won't let go, ever. I don't understand how she can be so one-sided as a journalist, if we can even call what she does journalism.

A few years ago she decided she'd get Uber down. Oh boy. Every single thing she was writing was worst than a People magazine article about the Kardashians. 0 objectivity. Straight up fake news, etc.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#28

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:18 AM UTC

throwaway0255 wrote: post #11

tinco wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the board, and supposedly Musk is being replaced to get a little bit more financial responsibility in Tesla. If Ms. Denholm has a bad track record, then that might not be good news, but I would assume Ms. Denholm was not an impulsive choice, and the board has good reason to seperate her abilities from Telstra's bad performance.

> The rest of the board, and supposedly Musk is being replaced to get a little bit more financial responsibility in Tesla. He’s being replaced as consideration for a settlement agreement with the SEC. It seems likely Tesla chose Denholm because they have a bad PR problem, and it will be difficult for media companies to portray her as a villain.

Difficult to portray her as a villain?

Telstra is widely regarded as the worst company in Australia to deal with as a residential customer.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#29

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:21 AM UTC

I posted this as a response to another comment, but I think it deserves a top level comment:

I just want to chime in here to say: when I recently tried to purchase an iPhone SE from Telstra's online store, the device was out of stock. They couldn't tell me when they expected to have it back in stock, or it was being end-of-lifed. No straight answers. I spent 15 hours, over two weeks, on the phone to Telstra trying to get the order cancelled and my money back. I gave up with that.

And went in to a Telstra owned Telstra store and politely but sternly demanded my money back by asking the managed to call his escalation point(s) until he found someone who could authorise the return of my money.

After half an hour he was asking me to leave and I repeatedly said "not until I have my money back". I wasn't being threatening at all, rather I was pleading with him to understand my position.

He picked up his mobile and said he was dialling the police.

That's how Telstra treats it's customers.

That's what Denholm is bring to the table: the worst customer experience in Australia with regard to telecommunications.

That's not just my opinion, Telstra has repeatedly been voted as the worst customer telco related experience in Australia for decades.

Re: Tesla Names Robyn Denholm as Chairman to Replace Elon Musk

#30

Post by NamTaf » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 11:29 AM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #23

dwd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shenanigans is an understatement. The government "compensated" Telstra for giving up it's network monopoly and after dropping Labor's plan of fiber to the property for existing connections bought the copper network anyway so Telstra double dipped. I've already had my NBN connection out for a whole week due to a failure in the copper.

So previously a private company monopolized the business and now government would monopolize it. I wonder which one is the worse...

The private company was privatised after previously being a government run organisaion. They floated it to get a bunch of income, but the nature of large infrastructure is that it's incredibly costly to build a new network. Thus, Telstra simultaneously acted as a private company (trying to deliver returns to shareholders) whilst being this sort of Frankenstein's monster of regulated wholesale monopoly, which hamstrung Australian broadband development something incredible.