Looks like that while Tesla may have figured out how to build 5,000 Model 3s a week, they haven’t figured out how to deliver them.
The chairman or board can fire the CEO. And you know what CEOs do right? And yes his reign in tesla is done.
Yeah, the man is guilty of doing some messed up things over twitter, but do we completely disregard the good things he’s done for the market, thus far? Employed tens-of thousands of people, boosted the electric-car industry, sold tens-of thousands of electric cars, pushing the boundaries of space-exploration, making solar-roofs popular, etc.
Hardly a ponzi-scheme to me. He should definitely be punished for the illegal activities and should rightfully be held responsible for the poor tweets and accusations he’s made recently. Give his company and his employees some credit, though, for all the good they’ve done in the world thus far.
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I’m not so sure about this one…
Still more popular than it was before hand…
Wide-spread adoption is limited currently and if most people are anything like me when it was time to get a new roof for my house, the initial up-front investment was unrealistic for long-term gains.
Do you believe the man is running a glorified Ponzi scheme?
The current board has stuck through with him this long, what makes you think they’re going to turn on him now? I’d also expect the board to appoint someone pro Musk as well.
To some degree, yes. He has proven that he can’t hit a target to save his life (still no signs of the “affordable” 35k model). He has done some good, yes, however, his greatest asset is his ability to hype. Many of the things he’s promised thus far have come extremely late, or haven’t arrived yet.
His advantage was he was first to the industry mass market (GM + Toyota were the pioneers, but killed their offerings prematurely, although Toyota did continue on to some degree where GM threw in the towel, only to start back up later). I give him credit for being able to hype or “con” the markets to buy into him, despite never making a profit in history.
At this point, however, I think he is running scared, and a part of the reason he’s been so erratic especially as of late. He sees the competition in the rear view mirror, and knows things are going to get even harder than they are now.
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Well we dont know that but likely they will appoint a chair who will not be pro musk or got nothing to do with tesla. Its part of the deal to get an independent chairman and 2 more independent directors and we can only guess the details of that deal. But who knows, this may all be a publicity stunt.
Guess we will just agree to disagree.
At least he actually is delivering, so what if it’s 1-year, 2-years late? I never wanted to be an early adopter myself because I understood the risks involved, but I do someday in the future see myself owning a vehicle like a Tesla. Now, that won’t happen in the near term, he’s built a strong product that retains its value very well.
I know you see his hyping up as “conning,” but honestly, I call that marketing. He’s a great salesman and marketer, otherwise he never would have gotten as far as he has.
There are plenty of other sleazy examples throughout the auto-industry that isn’t Musk of sleazy “conning” or marketing techniques applies, from GM and Toyota specifically. I also wouldn’t consider them pioneers in any field they decided to dump. That was a long time ago and though Tesla didn’t invent or even revolutionize the industry, they did evolve it.
Not a fan-boy, by the way. I just appreciate good engineering and technology. Love the Model-S, not the Model 3. I think the 3 and X can go burn in a dumpster fire.
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They cant get rid of Musk entirely. It’s too risky. There are more than a few parallels with Apple and Steve Jobs really. Yes, the company has continued to grow after his death but the innovation (rightly or wrongly) has largely slowed.
The Tesla fanboys are also the Elon fanboys, so ousting him from the company would do quite a lot of damage both to the initial share price but also the brand itself. He’s their best spokesman and worst enemy all in one. It’s also sort of similar to the President. People can forgive all the scandal and noise on a daily basis, if they’re getting what they want longer term.
Well we know he got off easy with SEC. But this is not the end of it. I am sure he will be sued by the 30% short int investor’s greedy lawyers until kingdom come who lost millions if not billions. Musk and short inv have one thing in common though. Hate for each other.
That’s true.
I have no sympathy for short investors though. They bet on Companies to fail. While sometimes it’s deserved, usually, it’s just because they’re looking for a quick payday like every other schlob out there (me included). There are risks involved with investments, always.
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If his greatest asset were his ability to hype, then the new owners of Model 3s (and other Teslas) would be disappointed to find that the reality of their vehicle did not match the expectation/hype. Instead, what I have seen from neighbors and friends who bought Teslas (and who are decidedly not fanboys), is an extreme level of satisfaction in the vehicle – driving dynamics, capabilities including the charging network and AP, etc.
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A few more thoughts here…with the disclaimer that I’m going to sound like a fanboy and I’m not. I don’t own a Tesla and don’t plan on spending that much $ on a car for a while. This is just my 2 cents:
I’ve noticed generally there is a lot of anger directed at Tesla and at Musk. Generally I read/hear things like:
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“Tesla sucks because they are government-subsidized. If not for that, they would fail/already have failed.”
The tax credits Tesla owners get are available to every other car maker as well. These are not Tesla-specific benefits. The fact that other car companies haven’t utilized this yet by making desirable EVs is either strategic patience or missed opportunity. -
“Musk is a con artist”
Every CEO is responsible for setting vision, and in a tech company vision is perhaps even more important. Musk sets his sights amazingly high (taking people to Mars, hyperloops, etc). The difference in being a “con” vs a “game-changing technologist” is execution. (i.e. if I told you I could get you across the country in one hour, you would think I was crazy…until I did it.) Currently Musk is executing…late, but still executing.
None of his pursuits – space travel, electric vehicles, solar energy – are things nobody else has thought of. The difference is that, to-date, he is brave enough to go after them, and good enough to generally execute well on them. The question we should ask is this: What’s everybody else’s excuse for not trying, or for not executing as well as he has?
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He’s still a douche bag though,
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Yeah, I agree on that. I wouldn’t want to work for him. Maybe it’s something about visionaries…Steve Jobs seems to have also been a douche bag (parking in handicapped spots, firing random employees if he didn’t like them after meeting them in the elevator, etc).
well It’s success and (I know we probably hear it too much now but…) - narcissistic personality disorder
Some people really are visionaries, they’re extremely passionate about a pursuit of interest which translates into success. Not always, but there’s always been a few. That does not mean they can handle the success or indeed have the first idea about to manage a business, communications and governance of huge, multi-billion dollar companies (or countries!) They should stick to what they do best and try to hire people who are good at the other stuff.
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Can we start an Apple bankruptcy thread? Company basically sells same crappy phone with the same OS since '06, yet somehow worth a trillion.
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No one knows how to punch themselves in the face better than Musk.