Tesla Is Buying SolarCity for $2.6 Billion (thenextweb.com)

Tesla Motors announced Monday that it has reached a deal to buy SolarCity (San Mateo-based provider of energy services), the next step in Elon Musk's plan to combine his electric-car and solar-energy companies. It's already a family affair: Musk, Tesla's chief executive, owns about 21% of SolarCity and serves as chairman. His cousins Lyndon R. Rive and Peter J. Rive are SolarCity's chief executive and chief technology officer, respectively. The independent members of both companies' boards approved the $2.6-billion all-stock deal, Tesla said. Tesla said it expects to have cost synergies of $150 million in the first year after the deal closes. Tesla said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter, although the proposal must still be approved by a majority of the disinterested shareholders of Tesla and SolarCity and requires regulatory approval. It also contains a "go shop" provision that gives SolarCity 45 days to "solicit, discuss or negotiate alternative proposals from third parties."

Comments

Re:Musk is an alien

[DarkOx]

Space X is doing some really cool work but it is also not meeting it's predicted launch rate.

True, but I think most outsiders 'priced' a bit of optimism into Space X's press releases. Overall they are enjoying a lot of success considering the complexity of what they are trying to do.

Tesla has some big problems with quality

Is that statistically true? I did some google searches and its hard to find good data. All the other big manufacturers are doing recalls with some frequency. Quality problems have always been a thing in the auto industry. Do you have proof Tesla is doing worse than average on per vehicle basis.

Tesla has some big problems with quality and the "beta" autopilot.

No the media has big problems with it, namely understanding and evaluating risk. Many of the known cases where auto pilot has caused problems have been in situations where it was not being used as directed. In terms of accidents per miles driven its a got a good record, with caveat that most people are using it in situations where humans typically do have a lower than average accident rate too.