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Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

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Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#171

Post by mempko »

Nrsolis wrote: post #34
noname123 wrote: post #23

The reason why Tesla is able to pay the Dept of Energy loan early is because of a secondary stock and bonds offering worth about >850+ million. In another words, Tesla is raising funds by generating more debt (from bondholders) and diluting share value (from shareholders), roughly about 3.5 mil out of 40 mil float, and using that money to pay the US govt. TSLA rose on the news despite diluting shareholders is because…

If I take a step back from this, I'd say it's bad strategy to bet against Elon Musk. IMHO, part of what makes his companies appealing is that he has a remarkable track record of keeping his head down and just getting sh!* done. I'm very impressed with his work ethic and vision and I think Tesla is going to go far. Secondly, if he is successful and manages to bootstrap and entire electric car industry from the ground…

cars are not an innovative technology. Cars that run on electricity existed since the 1920s and only recently mass produced by the likes of Nissan and others. Telsa sells expensive, heavy cars that run on batteries. Yes they are shiny. You know what would be innovative? Mass transit on a mass scale, away from automotive transport...

but there is no money to be made on any market for that..

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#172

Post by pressurefree »

joshdance wrote: post #165
ghshephard wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's these type of posts that make it to the top of a thread that make me not want to check into HN. Can't we celebrate a company, that was called out as a bad stimulus target during the presidential debates actually paying back all their loans ahead of time? If there was one place I hoped I could go to celebrate an innovative company's success, it would be HN. I take particular issue with, "Make no mistake, this is…

I agree. Let's applaude the lone electric car success.

i dont think you understand... sim1a.com

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#173

Post by tptacek »

mempko wrote: post #168
ghshephard wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a gut reaction to the "PR ploy to Pump" phrasing - which made TSLA sound like some kind of boiler-room operation engaging in shady behavior. Also, it would have been nice to come to HN and see the top rated article on TSLA calling out all the positives, rather than focussing no the Debt, Dilution, Loss that TSLA is experiencing. It's important to take time to celebrate victories, ours, and the people/organizat…

Tesla takes money out of people's pockets (the tax payers)and gives rich people fancy cars to drive. Not sure how to celebrate that... They payed back their loan to the tax payers by taking out a loan from someone else, not by selling a car at a profit and making a successful product.

Thank you for providing an actual middlebrow dismissal for comparative purposes.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#174

Post by ritchiea »

ghshephard wrote: post #101
noname123 wrote: post #23

The reason why Tesla is able to pay the Dept of Energy loan early is because of a secondary stock and bonds offering worth about >850+ million. In another words, Tesla is raising funds by generating more debt (from bondholders) and diluting share value (from shareholders), roughly about 3.5 mil out of 40 mil float, and using that money to pay the US govt. TSLA rose on the news despite diluting shareholders is because…

It's these type of posts that make it to the top of a thread that make me not want to check into HN. Can't we celebrate a company, that was called out as a bad stimulus target during the presidential debates actually paying back all their loans ahead of time? If there was one place I hoped I could go to celebrate an innovative company's success, it would be HN. I take particular issue with, "Make no mistake, this is…

I love that these types of comments are at the top of Hacker News. They add valuable information to the discussion. I don't understand how you expressing your admiration for Tesla is at odds with the interesting factual background of the comment you responded to.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#175

Post by toomuchtodo »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #170
jabits wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because our government is there by our voluntary action. If we find our government is making us do things involuntarily, we can change it.

What action did I take that constitutes my volunteering of government's legitimacy?

Existing on its soil. You can always move.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#176

Post by larrys »

ghshephard wrote: post #131
tptacek wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't read this comment nearly as negatively as you seemed to have.

It was a gut reaction to the "PR ploy to Pump" phrasing - which made TSLA sound like some kind of boiler-room operation engaging in shady behavior. Also, it would have been nice to come to HN and see the top rated article on TSLA calling out all the positives, rather than focussing no the Debt, Dilution, Loss that TSLA is experiencing. It's important to take time to celebrate victories, ours, and the people/organizat…

"gut reaction to the "PR ploy to Pump" phrasing"

Without agreeing or disagreeing that it was a ploy or not I will say that my gut to "Pr ploy" is actually positive since success with PR is an essential ingredient to success overall. I don't look down up it in any negative sense at all.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#177

Post by TrevorJ »

noname123 wrote: post #23

The reason why Tesla is able to pay the Dept of Energy loan early is because of a secondary stock and bonds offering worth about >850+ million. In another words, Tesla is raising funds by generating more debt (from bondholders) and diluting share value (from shareholders), roughly about 3.5 mil out of 40 mil float, and using that money to pay the US govt. TSLA rose on the news despite diluting shareholders is because…

The point about green credits in interesting. I suspect you will find many people who argue that it should be considered a legitimate business strategy, and other who view it as an artificial market that could evaporate at any given time depending on the whims of congress.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#178

Post by twistedpair »

veritas20 wrote: post #26
twistedpair wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget, we tried to make Tesla dealerships illegal first here in Mass. NC was late on that one, so let's not make it a "Red State" matter.

It's a preservation of money and industry matter.

Ever heard of the Tucker? It was the Tesla of its day. So Detroit sued them out of existence.

Re: Tesla Repays Department of Energy Loan Nine Years Early

#179

Post by NickM »

damoncali wrote: post #70
pbreit wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> selling each car at a material loss Is that true? I know the company overall would not have turned a profit without the credits but was under the impression that they currently had positive gross margins on the Model S.

Gross margin, and it's tiny without the credits. Tesla's most recent quarter resulted in an operating loss and a net loss. Edit: my bad. Seems the net income was slightly positive last quarter (with regulatory credits included, without them it's a big old negative).

Even without regulatory credits included, they made a profit. Check the filing: total profit for the quarter was $96.3 million, and revenue from ZEV and other regulatory credits was only about $85M.
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