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An Update from Elon Musk

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Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#31

Post by ealexhudson »

hristov wrote: post #22
droithomme wrote: post #10

Musk's public statements are the nicest and most logical ones I've seen made by a modern CEO. No sense of spin. Always a pleasure to read.

Ok, even though i am generally pro tesla and like musk, in order to prevent this from becoming a total worshipfest i will provide some facts that elon is not sharing. It is true that tesla has made all their payments under the doe loan agreement. But they were not in total compliance with said agreement. The agreement required that tesla keep certain financial ratios up to certain levels, and tesla failed to do that.…

He specifically mentions the 9-month to 6-month escrow switch in the post; are you talking about something different?

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#32

Post by aik »

klinquist wrote: post #23
chintan wrote: post #9

What a timing - "Romney Calls Tesla a ‘Loser’" in first debate: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/romney-tesla-loser/

Paraphrasing Chris Sacca, Elon Musk is one of the most under appreciated entrepreneurs of our time. Talk about someone willing to tackle the impossibly big problems...

>> Elon Musk is one of the most under appreciated entrepreneurs of our time.

I'm sure his time will come (already starting to). He's built and talked, but other than Paypal the world hasn't yet in a huge way reaped the benefits of his labor. With Tesla and SpaceX both (somewhat recently/soon) reaching a point of having products in heavy use, it'll come soon I'm sure.

Though maybe he should have some reward for attempting to tackle the big problems as well.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#33

Post by 001sky »

chintan wrote: post #9

What a timing - "Romney Calls Tesla a ‘Loser’" in first debate: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/romney-tesla-loser/

Romney then name-dropped a few beneficiaries including the bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra and Tesla Motors, the car maker that has gotten a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy, which it is paying off.

Romney then quipped that “One of my friends said, “You don’t pick the winners and losers. You pick the losers.”

--(1) They defaulted on a fed subsidized loan[#]; (2) They make $90k cars for rich people; (3) US deficit=$1Trillion, US Debt = $16.X Trillion. (4) Item (3) is spread pro-rata amongst the poor people who can't afford Teslas. Their pro-rata share of the debt is a nice chunk of their mortage payments (5) SV is flooded with cash. Tesla does not need US handouts, subsidized loans and other craptrap. If the biz/product is a winner it will do fine.

________

[#] Technical.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#34

Post by jbooth »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #15
rdl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the DOE loan has probably hurt Tesla's stock price more than it's helped -- the rumors about late repayment, etc. have probably depressed it from 33-35 down to 29. If Tesla hadn't taken $1 from DOE, it would be able to attack Fisker and Chevrolet and others for being Government Motors, and wouldn't have gotten name-checked in Romney's debate answer tonight. The only money MuskCo's should be taking from the go…

If I recall correctly, the DOE loan is very low interest rate, repayment is based on metric milestones, and at the time financing via traditional capital markets was fairly difficult for almost anyone. Seems like Tesla got a great deal.

Yeah, but the government itself is borrowing money at absurdly low interest rates right now. If you agree with the notion that government intervention to get an edge in strategic industries can be a good idea, it looks like a good loan at whatever rate they got (assuming it's higher than a 1/8 of a percent, the gov't turns a profit, too).

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#35

Post by PakG1 »

jessedhillon wrote: post #12
rdl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the DOE loan has probably hurt Tesla's stock price more than it's helped -- the rumors about late repayment, etc. have probably depressed it from 33-35 down to 29. If Tesla hadn't taken $1 from DOE, it would be able to attack Fisker and Chevrolet and others for being Government Motors, and wouldn't have gotten name-checked in Romney's debate answer tonight. The only money MuskCo's should be taking from the go…

The government is a horrible VC or lender ... What is the proof for this statement? I'm not asking what are the theoretical underpinnings of this worldview; what is the evidence which compels this conclusion?

That's difficult to say, because government investments mostly go into infrastructure and enablement policies, not ventures. But let's give it a shot.

USA: Green energy investments, of which some companies have turned out to be outright fraudulent.

China: Massive infrastructure and housing overspending and bubble, with much shoddy construction. Housing and construction companies everywhere benefiting from the money only contributing to a high-probability disaster ending.

Most Olympics-hosting nations, depending on what you perceive to be an acceptable measure of return.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#36

Post by QuantumGood »

hristov wrote: post #22
droithomme wrote: post #10

Musk's public statements are the nicest and most logical ones I've seen made by a modern CEO. No sense of spin. Always a pleasure to read.

Ok, even though i am generally pro tesla and like musk, in order to prevent this from becoming a total worshipfest i will provide some facts that elon is not sharing. It is true that tesla has made all their payments under the doe loan agreement. But they were not in total compliance with said agreement. The agreement required that tesla keep certain financial ratios up to certain levels, and tesla failed to do that.…

Well, he seems to address this directly where he states:

"We did suggest that holding nine months worth of principal payments in advance in a reserved account was a bit extreme and, moreover, was never part of our original loan agreement. The DOE agreed and reduced the advance payment reserve account to six months."

You saying

"keep certain financial ratios up to certain levels, and tesla failed to do that. As a result, tesla asked the government to change the terms"

...doesn't seem to add to or contradict his statements.

So unless you can clarify, your statement that "that is the full story ... elon was definitely not giving you all relevant info." seems inaccurate.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#37

Post by codex »

As of last quarter, Tesla had $777M in assets and a whopping $715M in liabilities--leaving a net balance of only $64M.

Given that their balance sheet is decreasing by an extraordinary $30M a month, that would have left only two months until the company was insolvent. No wonder the U.S. government wants their $465M paid back more quickly than planned.

The company has lost over $850 million since being founded in 2003.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#38

Post by scrame »

aik wrote: post #32
klinquist wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paraphrasing Chris Sacca, Elon Musk is one of the most under appreciated entrepreneurs of our time. Talk about someone willing to tackle the impossibly big problems...

>> Elon Musk is one of the most under appreciated entrepreneurs of our time. I'm sure his time will come (already starting to). He's built and talked, but other than Paypal the world hasn't yet in a huge way reaped the benefits of his labor. With Tesla and SpaceX both (somewhat recently/soon) reaching a point of having products in heavy use, it'll come soon I'm sure. Though maybe he should have some reward for attemp…

Well, if nothing else, I'm sure he can find solace with all his money, spaceships and sports cars from his sport car factory.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#39

Post by jessep »

reneherse wrote: post #27

I'm a huge Elon Musk/Tesla/SpaceX fan, and have often felt it would be the ultimate opportunity to work at either company (Tesla would be my first choice, as automotive interface tech is one of my passions). However, doing a quick bit of research earlier today, a search for "Tesla working environment" turned up more than a handful of reports by former and current employees that hint at an unpleasant company culture.…

I have a bunch of friends who work at Tesla. They do work hard, one of whom works waaaaay too hard, but it's meaningful work. They're changing the world.

It's a similar feeling I get from people I know who work at Apple.

Re: An Update from Elon Musk

#40

Post by anovikov »

Hope some good news come on SpaceX, too. What's up with F-H with its so dubious payload figures, especially for high energy trajectories? How's the cross-feed system is coming along (if it haven't been dropped yet)? Where is the 'super efficient staged combustion methane engine' you mentioned a year back, any idea what thrust class it is and what is the fuel combination?
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