The man is fascinating... and very polarizing. On one hand, he is clearly a visionary and extremely smart in the sciences. But a smart scientist doesn't always equate to a smart businessman.
Here's an interesting article about the man - Nickola Tesla and his genius (and inability to navigate the business world):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkn...d-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/#6da31e771a21
Tesla was a great scientist and visionary but never was able to get the continued confidence and backing from investors. He simply was not an astute businessman.
Edison, on the other hand, was (an astute businessman) and became far more (financially) successful.
I guess my hope (for all the investors in Tesla stock) is that Musk isn't another Tesla.... great idea (electric cars) but unable to convert that idea into a successful company that is profitable (and, hence, sticks around). Lots at stake here... lots of people and lots of money. That's basically all I'm saying.
Tesla will be marginally profitable at some point, but the next few companies that do what Tesla is doing will be profitable. It's usually that way when the next few companies follow the pioneer.
Absolutely! And that ties into the above... Tesla created concepts and ideas. It took Westinghouse and Edison to bring them to the masses in a financially viable way. Tesla started the idea... others took it and made it work.
The battery factory is a big deal to IMO.
I'm not sure where the Gigafactory lines up with Tesla (motors). Obviously, the factory supplies the batteries for the cars... but they produce batteries for a lot of other applications... and I'm pretty certain it's financial results are not tied to Tesla (motors) - the public company. So, like SpaceX, it's privately owned and I'm not that concerned about how those private firms/people end up (yes, I care... but it's not on the scale of Tesla (motors).
I thought you were saying he is going to go broke because he has to make his ideas profitable.
According to Forbes, he ranks 52nd in the world, with a net worth of $20.4 billion. It's impossible to know for sure what his actual net worth is, as those things are private (for example, Bloomberg has him as the 45th most wealthy individual, with a net worth of $21.2) but I'm pretty certain he will not end up destitute on the streets.
I have no concern about his well being... he's rich. It's those shareholders and his inability to turn a profit and make promises that he rarely keeps. Very real people, with very real money... might even be some's retirement money.
Any CEO of a public company has a responsibility to act in the best interests of their shareholders. One of my holdings is General Electric. It's taken a beating over the past year, mainly due to bad decsions made by the prior CEO, Jeff Immelt. Immelt is gone now, but the company is struggling to redefine what it needs to do to become the powerhouse it used to be. They cut the dividend in half (ouch to me). Not likely they'll go bankrupt and I really take a bath, so I'm holding on.
But Tesla is not GE... it hasn't been around for over a century, mostly profitable. It's been around 15 years and has never sniffed a profit.
A lot is riding on his affordable electric car - The Model 3. If Teslas is to become profitable, the Model 3 has to be produced in mass quantities. Musk has made at least three separate promises of production targets, all of which have been missed by a significant margin.
Read this article, it says all you need to know about how critical the Model 3 is to the comapny's continued survival.
https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-model-3-production-problems-elon-musk-feb-2018/
I've said before that I wish a group of nations would get to together and back him with loads of resources. This guy might be this centuries Norman Einstein.
Yeah, that Norman Einsteen was brilliant!!
