Tesla Q1 2020 Update • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#211

Post by rtsil » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:06 AM UTC

Reedx wrote: post #136

chollida1 wrote: post #2

Since, things are slow, my notes.... Misc: - Fremont plant idle since March 23rd - raised 2.3B in February, which seems really well timed now - Musk venting with "FREE AMERICA NOW" tweet makes him seem almost crazy - can see why Elon is going crazy on twitter, he'd almost turned around Telsa and now they may be in the worst cash crunch of their long life - Shanghai Giga reopened on Feb 10th, showing the importance of…

> Will Elon stop with tweets that hurt Tesla? Appoint a CEO, or COO to run things People have been saying that for years and years. It's beyond stale. Meanwhile Tesla and SpaceX have continued to succeed beyond expectations for over a decade now. If there's occasional twitter volatility in-between simultaneously landing two rockets returning from space... so be it. Besides, if it bothers you that much, you don't have…

> Meanwhile Tesla and SpaceX have continued to succeed beyond expectations for over a decade now.

I think people underestimate how essential Gwynne Shotwell is to SpaceX.

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#212

Post by paulcole » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:07 AM UTC

vgchh wrote: post #186

Serious question: I am confused as to why do we see so many comments lamenting, what is essentially freedom of speech of EM? I mean, it's not like he is conclusively wrong about "Free America Now" comment. He may be proven wrong over time or even right.

In my opinion if you have a big platform and are an influential person, you owe it to the people who follow you to not tweet out stupid shit you don’t know anything about.

Elon should honestly delete his twitter but it’s clear he loves the attention of being a celebrity who can make headlines.

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#213

Post by wilg » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:08 AM UTC

Reedx wrote: post #136

chollida1 wrote: post #2

Since, things are slow, my notes.... Misc: - Fremont plant idle since March 23rd - raised 2.3B in February, which seems really well timed now - Musk venting with "FREE AMERICA NOW" tweet makes him seem almost crazy - can see why Elon is going crazy on twitter, he'd almost turned around Telsa and now they may be in the worst cash crunch of their long life - Shanghai Giga reopened on Feb 10th, showing the importance of…

> Will Elon stop with tweets that hurt Tesla? Appoint a CEO, or COO to run things People have been saying that for years and years. It's beyond stale. Meanwhile Tesla and SpaceX have continued to succeed beyond expectations for over a decade now. If there's occasional twitter volatility in-between simultaneously landing two rockets returning from space... so be it. Besides, if it bothers you that much, you don't have…

Is it so much to ask for him to tweet responsibly so we can enjoy the fun future stuff without all the bullshit?

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#214

Post by codeisawesome » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:09 AM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #169

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say this thing costs $200 per person, so $100k per party. Let's say he does this every day (or throws a 3.5x as lavish party twice a week), that's $36.5M per year. He can do this for 10 years and it will still literally be a rounding error in his wealth.

Of his current wealth on paper, yes. But almost all of Elon's wealth is in the form of his stock holdings, and stocks fluctuate in price. Moreover, his cash is almost all leveraged from his stock, and if the price collapses again, he could be wiped out by the margin call.

I want to read a book (or a few!) full of these dynamics of wealth - what it means to be paper wealthy, what leveraging that can do for your lifestyle, and why people live in fear of the margin call. Can I please ask you for any recommendations?

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#215

Post by wilg » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:10 AM UTC

cco wrote: post #210

save_ferris wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He might be more concerned about the sales prospects instead of operational expenses. Automakers are getting hit really hard by this pandemic, and they need a healthy economy to sell cars. Many economic forecasts are saying that a full recovery is 2-4 years away, although there are many different opinions.

I'm honestly surprised that Elon hasn't made some sort of tweet intimating that "Bioweapon Defense Mode" on Teslas may filter out covid-19.

its not on 3 or Y

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#216

Post by jlbnjmn » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:20 AM UTC

llsf wrote: post #182

alteria wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SaaS has really high gross margins (>65%?), but I'm not sure that gross margin number is comparable with the 25% that Tesla reported.

Does anybody know why Saas on average have such high gross margin ?

It doesn't cost much to add a user to SaaS, but it costs a lot to write the software and convince people to pay for it.

Gross margins are calculated from per unit costs, so advertising expenses, servers, supporting SaaS, and the salaries of programmers and sales people are not included.

Also, physical products are made from relatively scarce resources. Software is typed, and words are not scarce.

SaaS companies have benefited from demand outstripping supply. SaaS replaces human labor, so it takes a SaaS competitor to drive down prices.

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#217

Post by Melting_Harps » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:20 AM UTC

wilg wrote: post #213

Reedx wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Will Elon stop with tweets that hurt Tesla? Appoint a CEO, or COO to run things People have been saying that for years and years. It's beyond stale. Meanwhile Tesla and SpaceX have continued to succeed beyond expectations for over a decade now. If there's occasional twitter volatility in-between simultaneously landing two rockets returning from space... so be it. Besides, if it bothers you that much, you don't have…

Is it so much to ask for him to tweet responsibly so we can enjoy the fun future stuff without all the bullshit?

> Is it so much to ask for him to tweet responsibly so we can enjoy the fun future stuff without all the bullshit?

I don't know, that rave cave in Berlin sounds pretty awesome, and that was from a tweet. The Pedo thing was in poor taste, sure, but they got Tesla guys working on a sub to get some kids out of the cave, so you have to see the positive outweighing the negative. Besides, he won that case and no one here cared.

The Truth is that his controversy is part of his Branding Prowess, him smoking weed on JRE created way much more awareness for everything he is involved in amongst the masses more than I thought it would. And I saw it happen live.

> - TSLA trying to run an amazon HQ2 like process for Truck and Model Y factories, look for small, southern, and poor cities to bid and probably win

Does this apply to Cybertruck or Semi? I was thinking of putting a deposit on a dual motor Cybertruck but I'm waiting to see where it will be built.

Fremont was already building Y does that mean they will stop if they get another US based factory online? I just don't understand why Sparks isn't being utilized, its so f'ing massive!

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#218

Post by Engineer2Throw » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:20 AM UTC

maxharris wrote: post #118

hinkley wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been said before and should be said again: Elon needs an assistant who shuts his fucking phone off at midnight. It's like the moon comes out and he turns into a werewolf. There was a theory that he's Ambien-tweeting, but I suspect he just never learned in college like many of us that any idea that sounds really good at 1 am is probably really stupid.

Elon has done well by me. Every company he runs turns to gold. I wouldn't have him change a thing. Seriously, given his performance over the long-term, I hope he tweets even more. It enrages people that can't think past the next quarter, and that's good for long-term shareholders like me!

I need to invest with less ethics. If you are in bed with the government, you will make money.

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#219

Post by Rury » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:20 AM UTC

llsf wrote: post #182

alteria wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SaaS has really high gross margins (>65%?), but I'm not sure that gross margin number is comparable with the 25% that Tesla reported.

Does anybody know why Saas on average have such high gross margin ?

Gross margin = (Revenue - COGS) / Revenue.

So reason is very low costs... being that there is almost no physical inventory/material costs involved.

Just servers, a few programmers to make and maintain things, any other staff, and whatever bills they have (e.g. electricity/internet/advertising/fees from software they use).

Re: Tesla Q1 2020 Update

#220

Post by texasbigdata » Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 1:21 AM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #169

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say this thing costs $200 per person, so $100k per party. Let's say he does this every day (or throws a 3.5x as lavish party twice a week), that's $36.5M per year. He can do this for 10 years and it will still literally be a rounding error in his wealth.

Of his current wealth on paper, yes. But almost all of Elon's wealth is in the form of his stock holdings, and stocks fluctuate in price. Moreover, his cash is almost all leveraged from his stock, and if the price collapses again, he could be wiped out by the margin call.

Or....he structured it as "let me borrow 60% of X, and here as some shares worth X as collateral.". Aka synthetically manufactured selling shared without actually doing it in order to fund his lifestyle.

Depending on the advance rate (the 60% in this case), someone will do that deal.

To take it to the absurd. If Elon wanted to fund his $35M daily party habit in the comment above, and he said to a bank "here is 3 billion in stock as pledged collateral which you can sell when the value goes to $500M but there's no recourse. Cool? Cool. " You would do that deal.

So the margin call concept does not seem realistic.