http://archive.md/0ncZV
Link gets a DNS Resolution Error for me.
Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
31–40 of 64 posts
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#32> Yet he has to borrow, sometimes a lot, to pay for his lifestyle and business investments without liquidating shares that help him maintain control of the companies he runs. Not sure. He could sell secondary shares without losing control, just like zuck
As the article points out, Tesla went public before the "founder gets preferred shares that have all the voting power" thing became popular. Zuckerberg sells the non-voting shares, but Musk doesn't have any.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#33Remember that Elon agreed to have his tweets reviewed by Tesla's in-house counsel in lieu of formal SEC action after he lied about taking the company private. He recently tweeted that the stock price was too high. Something legal would never allow him to say, especially if he is on the verge of exercising options. My bet is the SEC isn't going to tolerate this behavior anymore, and he won't be at the helm of any of h…
He agreed to have material tweets reviewed by Tesla's in house counsel before publishing. With a specific definition of material and examples of content that would be material. This tweet IMHO doesn't fall under that definition of material. Even if you think it did, you're blindly assuming that this tweet wasn't reviewed (which it might well have been, if it was reviewed it was certainly legal instead of probably leg…
> Even if you think it did, you're blindly assuming that this tweet wasn't reviewed
Musk said it wasn't reviewed:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-stock-falls-after-ceo-twe...
His tweets in general are not reviewed. He does not respect the SEC:
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very unlikely, but if necessary Tesla would go through a Chapter 11 reorg, not a 7 liquidation. The brand, charging network, and manufacturing capacity has too much value to throw away. When Tesla was on the brink of insolvency years ago, he had a handshake deal with Larry Page (they jetpooled together) for Google to acquire Tesla and for Musk to continue to run day to day operations. Wasn’t necessary, but there are…
The people in charge in America only fail upwards, never down.
Is that statement tautological?
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The lesson learned would be "don't do new things, and don't believe in anyone who suggests that you do new things." That's not a positive lesson. The other lesson could be "maybe we shouldn't rely on one person's charisma to drive us to do new and interesting things," but that's not likely to be the lesson learned.
I'd think it's the second lesson that will be learned. Musk has been on the verge of failure for years, and cracks are showing now more than ever before. I'd hate for everyone to stop dreaming for tomorrow just because one guy couldn't pull off everything imaginable. For all the good things Musk does, he also does a lot of bad things. Including but not limited to dreaming up absurd fantasies to "reinvent" industries…
> But trusting all of the future to just one guy
Part of the problem is not trusting the future to one guy, but rather that there is hardly more than one guy to trust it to. Where are the other Elon Musks? We need more people like him, not less.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If his incredible run of success dries up, the narrative is going to shift hard. I remember how Apple kicked out Jobs. Any chance Tesla will suddenly find a competing company in EV market which it can buy with certain conditions?..
I know it's fashionable of late to lionize Jobs, but was it really him or was it just the "second-generation effect"? Look at Microsoft under Ballmer, or Google after Page/Brin. All seem(ed) to be hollow shells of what once was.
Google has been anything but a hollow shell from a shareholder's perspective. They've gone from strength to strength.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#37It's really concerning that theres essentially a giant liability, Elon's personal debt, that doesnt show up on the balance sheet. As the article discusses, a margin call would be devastating, and hopefully any irresponsible decisions in his personal lifestyle choices don't spill over to put Tesla or SpaceX at risk. Especially considering how powerful a force they've been in driving consumer changes in vehicles and in…
Didn't Elon just tweet a few days ago that he'd be selling a lot of his personal stuff? That seems like he's being quite prudent and responsible if anything.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If his incredible run of success dries up, the narrative is going to shift hard. I remember how Apple kicked out Jobs. Any chance Tesla will suddenly find a competing company in EV market which it can buy with certain conditions?..
I know it's fashionable of late to lionize Jobs, but was it really him or was it just the "second-generation effect"? Look at Microsoft under Ballmer, or Google after Page/Brin. All seem(ed) to be hollow shells of what once was.
Google was wildly successful under Eric Schmidt.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#39It's really concerning that theres essentially a giant liability, Elon's personal debt, that doesnt show up on the balance sheet. As the article discusses, a margin call would be devastating, and hopefully any irresponsible decisions in his personal lifestyle choices don't spill over to put Tesla or SpaceX at risk. Especially considering how powerful a force they've been in driving consumer changes in vehicles and in…
Seems like they are over hyping the margin call risk. It says in there that his total borrowing is ~500 million and his paper assets are estimated at $39 billion. The debt is a lot in absolute terms but relative to his assets it is less than 2% of his wealth which seems really low to me.
Re: Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire
#40It's really concerning that theres essentially a giant liability, Elon's personal debt, that doesnt show up on the balance sheet. As the article discusses, a margin call would be devastating, and hopefully any irresponsible decisions in his personal lifestyle choices don't spill over to put Tesla or SpaceX at risk. Especially considering how powerful a force they've been in driving consumer changes in vehicles and in…
Didn't Elon just tweet a few days ago that he'd be selling a lot of his personal stuff? That seems like he's being quite prudent and responsible if anything.
That’s literally the article?