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Tesla IPO Raises $226 Million
An anonymous reader writes "Tesla, which will trade under TSLA on Nasdaq, has been priced at $17 per share, allowing the electric car start-up to raise more than $226 million in its IPO. Investors were expecting the share price target range to be between $14 and $16 but the overflow of excitement saw Tesla increase the number of shares it plans to offer to 13.3 million, nearly 20 percent more than originally planned." Reader hlovy contributes a link from Xconomy.com summarizing the skepticism among some analysts as to how much staying power TSLA will demonstrate.
Today Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, was seen shaking the robotic arm of a submersible BP robot at the IPO celebration ...
My work here is dung.
Seems investors were fully charged.
I distinctly remember them saying a few years ago they didn't want to go public with the company so they'd retain complete control.
Maybe this is a good thing to grow the company, but will being beholden to the stockholders be a problem down the road?
"The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." - Eugene Jarvis
Clearly, many people don't remember pets.com
What makes TSLA an interesting business proposition (although not, for me, at $20+) is that if (and it's a huge "if") they can get production up and running in a timely fashion, they really do stand to reform the auto industry.
The old model - manufacturers sell to dealers, and dealers sell to end users, but the dealers are franchisees who actually have no real relationship with the manufacturer. Your GM dealer sucks? Your GM dealer's mechanic sucks? It all reflects poorly on GM, and what's worse (from GM's point of view) is that all the short-term gains made by shady dealers and overpriced service departments go to the dealer, not to GM. Dealerships are profit centers for the dealer, but often breakeven or even loss centers for the manufacturer.
Tesla's model is new to the auto industry: manufacturer sells direct to consumer, and also owns the distribution network and the service departments. That's nothing new in high tech: Apple's made a fortune using that model. The "Apple Store" gives a retail presence, but the guy at the Apple Store doesn't really care whether you buy the thing on the spot or go back home and buy it through the website.
Applying that model to cars is interesting - and potentially groundbreaking. In the case of the Big Three, the dealer networks were an albatross around the neck of the auto manufacturers. If Tesla's model works, Telsa won't need a network of thousands of independent dealerships, because the only function of the dealerships will be to provide test drives and occasional servicing. Dealerships will be profit centers, not loss centers, for the manufacturer.
What the company got in the form of government loan from the stimulus package (seems like $544M was the number I remember of the top of my head). Also, isn't the CEO about broke?
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
I think Warren Buffett said that as a rule companies which pioneered most revolutionary technologies, those which changed our lives in profound ways, didn't make money for original investors... Especially in transportation (think airlines, car companies etc.)
Are you seriously comparing the quintessential .com bubble site to a profitable and innovative car company? Just because their stock price is increasing on opening day doesn't mean that they're about to burst.
For instance, take - Google's stock. There were a multitude of pundits and "experts" claiming that their $100 IPO price levels were totally unsustainable. They looked pretty stupid when the price doubled in 6 months. Sure, Tesla is no Google, but don't imagine that their stock price is guaranteed plummet just because there is a lot of excitement surrounding their IPO.
I have to admit though I'm a little disappointed they didn't get the stock ticker COIL.
The enemies of Democracy are
Maybe the Vulture Capitalists turned them down, or offered them the usual stranglehold deal that vulture capitalists are famous for.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Their cars run on DC motors (or at least get power from a DC source). Yet the company is named after a man who is acknowledged as the father of the alternating current (at least in the US).
Otherwise I think they have a fine product (although I cannot afford it) and I hope them well. Furthermore if the company name helps to make Nikola Tesla better known in this country, I think that would be great as I view Tesla as amongst the greatest scientists to ever work in the US.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Its pretty damn hard to get a venture capitalist to hand over a quarter billion dollar for anything less than your eternal soul plus interest.
AFAIK, they don't (can't?) "make" you hold the IPO stock.. If you sell within 30 days, however, you are likely not going to be allocated IPO shares again, at least for a while. Yes, I'm nitpicking the difference, but I do think it's significant, esp. if one is willing to risk missing future IPOs.
(I got some at $18, since my brokers weren't in the IPO.)
No revenue stream now; no revenue stream until 2012.
This seems to be pretty much parallel to most of the business plans of dot-coms. "We have cool new technology! What, we also need sales?"
It really depends on how well they can market the roadsters... which they have not shown to be one of their strong suits yet. Time will tell. Opening day will not.
Nope, they stopped making the Roadsters, all work now is on the S-Sedan and licensing their Drivetrain technology to Mercedes and Toyota.
Yeah, because that's why people buy Ferraris -- range.
The Roadster handily beats similarly priced Ferraris in acceleration. It's not the greatest sports car ever, but in terms of performance it's quite impressive.
I'm not going to buy one, but that's because I think a Mustang is too ostentatious for me. :P
The enemies of Democracy are
Here's my ride. Look for it passing you on the highway.
Most people don't try to go out of their way to show off to the world that they have a tiny penis.
As someone who just bought a used prius, I'd have to say that your insult is off base. At an AVERAGE of 48.5 mpg, this car doesn't suck. It is big enough for me an my wife, and enough space in the back to drag around groceries/skies/camping equipment/or mulch. As my drag racing days are behind me, what more do you/I need in a car?
Why would anyone want just another run of the mill "family car".
Obviously, there's a huge government conspiracy to make us think that people want "family cars". Heck, Wikipedia is claiming that a compact family sedan called the "Corolla" is the best selling car of all time.
If it's got > 2 functional seats, I ain't interested.
Sucker - I'm not interested unless it only has one functional seat and zero doors.
Why would anyone want just another run of the mill "family car".
Probably because they have a family and use a car for transportation?
If it's got > 2 functional seats, I ain't interested.
Hard to set up a threesome if you only have one extra seat. I see what your priorities are.
Qxe4
What's the problem with a 300 mile range? I've never understood that. That's five hours of driving at 60 mph, which far exceeds what most family sedans will ever need. If I'm going to travel more than 300 miles I'm letting someone else (pilot, engineer, bus driver, etc.) do the driving for me. Even on my most ridiculous days at work I'm not driving more than two hours from home.
If my neighbors will cough up $70,000 for a Land Rover or H2 then I don't see that price point as an issue, either. Especially since Tesla is known as a luxury vehicle.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
I was going to make a brilliant analogy to the car business, but I can't think of one...
That particular episode of Top Gear is (especially) derided as FUD. The car never ran out of batteries, they never recharged the car (just an off the cuff remark about it taking 16 hours to charge from their windmill(!?)), and the 'brake down' that they reported was a blown fuse (not a drive train one either, just a regular one like could and does happen in every car). The put the car into neutral and pushed it off the track to 'show what would happen if you ran out of charge', obviously you could say the exact same thing about running out of gas on the track.
To me, that really brought to light just how much the people at Top Gear are biased towards the cars that they like and against the cars that they don't.
To me, that really brought to light just how much the people at Top Gear are biased towards the cars that they like and against the cars that they don't.
And this was new to you? I think it's so strikingly obvious that anyone wanting to learn anything about cars isn't getting anything from Top Gear. I watch it for the Lulz.
And I need a yard of cement from time to time, but that doesn't mean that I have to own a cement mixer. If I owned an electric vehicle and needed to take that once- or twice-yearly long trip I'd rent a long-distance vehicle, the same as I'd rent a cement mixer. Even better is my neighbor's solution for the occasional need for a pickup. The parents bought it used a decade ago, now three of the kids split the insurance and the other stores it in his back yard. When any of the kids or grandkids need a truck they have one, but no one is saddled with the daily cost of driving the gas hog.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin