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Tesla and SolarCity Merger Gets Approval From Shareholders (cnbc.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Shareholders for SolarCity and Tesla voted Thursday to approve merging the two companies. "Tesla's shareholders have overwhelmingly approved our acquisition of SolarCity," said a statement from Tesla sent to CNBC. "Excluding the votes of Elon and other affiliated shareholders, more than 85% of shares voted were cast in favor of the acquisition. With SolarCity's shareholders also having approved the acquisition, the transaction will be completed in the coming days." The deal has divided investor and analyst opinion. Some Tesla shareholders have filed lawsuits against the deal, and critics have called it a bailout for SolarCity. Chairman Elon Musk, who holds about 22 percent of SolarCity stock and 22 percent of Tesla's, has recused himself from both votes, as have other insiders such as director Antonio Gracias and J.B. Straubel. Gracias, the founder of Valor Equity Partners, sits on both companies' boards, and Straubel was part of Tesla's founding team and serves as its chief technical officer, according to company filings. The merger comes as the solar energy business is showing signs of a slowdown.

36 comments

  1. Let me be the first to say congrats. by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The synergy makes sense. I like the roof idea.

    --
    Greed is the root of all evil.
    1. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by haruchai · · Score: 1

      The synergy makes sense. I like the roof idea.

      I'm somewhat hopeful but there are lots of uncertainties and we don't yet know the price for those roof tiles or the complexity of getting them installed.
      Will my roofer now need to be an electrician?

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    2. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 1

      If it's like installing the charger for a Tesla in your garage, SolarCity will take care of the installation and electrical work.

      --
      Greed is the root of all evil.
    3. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      I like the roof idea.

      Me too. I buried my panels in the backyard for better aesthetics, but it didn't work out.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    4. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by evilviper · · Score: 1

      The synergy makes sense.

      No, it doesn't. "Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts."

      There's zero reason to get your solar panels from your car-maker. It's just as easy to hire two different companies for those two very different jobs. There is no synergy here. Well, maybe a little bit of marketing (Solar City ads shown to Tesla customers), but that's it.

      This looks like a complete bailout of one of Musk's failing business units, by another. The kind of thing Martin Shkreli is going to jail for.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    5. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 2

      Homes with solar panels need batteries. Electric cars need batteries. The gigafactory makes batteries for both. Electric cars need electrical service for charging at homes and businesses. SolarCity specializes in delivering qualified installation services. They did a great job installing my electrical service for my car. The sharing of engineering, marketing and sales resources are obvious synergy.

      The vast majority of the affected shareholders agreed and it was their decision to make. They can sell their stock if they think its a bad idea.

      --
      Greed is the root of all evil.
    6. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by evilviper · · Score: 1

      Homes with solar panels need batteries.

      No, they do not. Batteries are an expensive and inefficient waste of money and energy, when you have a grid connection.

      Electric cars need electrical service for charging at homes and businesses. SolarCity specializes in delivering qualified installation services.

      There are innumerable electricians out there, and they're all certified for such tasks.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    7. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 1

      >No, they do not. Batteries are an expensive and inefficient waste of money and energy, when you have a grid connection.
      Power companies shortly will no longer be required to purchase electricity from homeowners, so the grid is not a storage alternative. Additionally, batteries are a backup solution in the event the grid doesn't supply power.

      >There are innumerable electricians out there, and they're all certified for such tasks.
      Absolutely correct. That's why Solar City certifies, trains and hires local electricians like the one that installed my connection to charge my car.

      --
      Greed is the root of all evil.
    8. Re:Let me be the first to say congrats. by evilviper · · Score: 1

      Power companies shortly will no longer be required to purchase electricity from homeowners, so the grid is not a storage alternative.

      Electricity from the grid always costs less than electricity from batteries, for residential users. If you have excess solar and can't sell it, your best bet is just throwing it away.

      But besides that, only Nevada has allowed electric companies to stop buying residential solar electricity. It's unlikely the rest will.

      batteries are a backup solution in the event the grid doesn't supply power.

      Lead-acid batteries may be. Li-Ion batteries are not. Tesla doesn't make Lead-acid batteries.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  2. Whatever by Marsoupial · · Score: 1

    I'm sure they've been in the back merging for a while now. Of course some guy named Gracias is sitting on both company's "boards".

  3. Well duh by HeckRuler · · Score: 2

    If we didn't believe Musk knew what he was doing, we'd simply sell.

    A no vote would equate to a vote of no-confidence for stock which is largely driven by speculation. As of this exact moment, neither Tesla nor SolarCity are super-profitable or dominant in their industries. But we're hoping it gets big. Why would we tank stock we own?

    The recommended action (which was right above the ballot) was to vote yes. Duh, it's their idea in the first place. And most people won't rock the boat.

    And business-wise, it DOES kinda make sense. The two are related. Kinda. There's not a great reason why they couldn't be two different companies though.

    The downside is that this might be an example of Musk having one of his companies eat and absorb the losses of one of his failures which he doesn't REALLY want to admit is a failure. I dunno, I'm too busy to really dig into it. I know I probably couldn't find anything meaningful if I did go digging. And I don't have all that much money in there.

    1. Re:Well duh by kwerle · · Score: 2

      A no vote would equate to a vote of no-confidence for stock which is largely driven by speculation. As of this exact moment, neither Tesla nor SolarCity are super-profitable or dominant in their industries. But we're hoping it gets big. Why would we tank stock we own?

      As an employee I probably shouldn't say anything - but I'm willing to quote others:
      https://cleantechnica.com/2015...
      (as of 2015):
      The market share of the leading US residential solar installers in this period are listed as follows:

      SolarCity 34.1%
      Vivint Solar 11.6%
      Sunrun 2.6%
      NRG Home Solar 2%
      Sungevity 1.9%

      Maybe triple the next largest installer isn't dominating?

    2. Re:Well duh by Guspaz · · Score: 2

      It's certainly a strong market position, but says nothing about the profitability and sustainability of the company.

    3. Re: Well duh by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      U do realize that Tesla is the largest seller of EVs. Right? Nobody else comes close.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  4. So Elon decided to merge with Elon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wasn't that the ending of time cop?

  5. Next merger by TWX · · Score: 2

    So, Tesla and Solar City join to form Tesla City.

    Then in a bizarre twist, Tesla City merges with the relatively unknown Spatula Designs, to form Spatula City!

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Next merger by sconeu · · Score: 1

      They'll then work to ensure women have the vote everywhere, to form Suffragette City!!

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:Next merger by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Wham, bam, thank you. ma'am

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    3. Re:Next merger by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If the powerwalls fail it'll be Dark City.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Next merger by TWX · · Score: 1

      How do you get to Shell Beach?

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  6. Re:shocked! by Guspaz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mr. Musk didn't vote.

  7. Re:Crony Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And we can be pretty sure the first thing they do will be to obscure the reporting to disguise just how much money Solar City is losing each quarter while increasing the lobbying fund as the Trump administration cuts back on the solar subsidies because all the solar companies say they would be profitable without them.

    This is going to be an expensive ploy to coverup the failure of parts of the Musk empire. One is lead to speculate on how much of the rest of it is inflated beyond realistically sustainable levels. I'd like to see what the plan is to accommodate the loss of subsidies. The real plan, not the press release.

  8. Re: Crony Capitalism by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Informative

    Had you actually read any of this stuff u would have realized that most of 'subsidies' that musk company gets, are actually to customers, or were state subsidies, I.e. they only impact ppl in those states.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  9. Re:Crony Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Welcome to the US, you must be new here. Unfortunately subsidies are the norm these days for larger businesses, this happens at both the local, state and national level. For example when a couple manufactures moved into a city near me a decade ago they basically got a pass on their property taxes as part of the agreement for quite a few years, then when the agreement ended they both threatened to scale back operations if they didn't get a partial extension. Fossil fuels get tens of billions of dollars in subsidies each year. Trump built his fortune by suckling on grants/subsidies to the tune of $885 Million and counting. I'm all for tossing them in a wood-chipper, but only if ALL of them go at the same time.

  10. "cost synergies” by God+of+Lemmings · · Score: 1

    What this means is they will be able to kind of survive if their carbon offset goes away under Trump.

    --
    Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
  11. Re: Crony Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the subsidies were not a competitive advantage, Tesla would refuse them.

  12. Re:Crony Capitalism by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    What this allows is for Tesla to sell branded home solar energy systems. So buy the Tesla 1000 or pay extra for the Tesla X10000, depending on how much energy you need. You need a branded system so that you can incorporate that in the sales data when you want to sell the property so that it will add value to the property. So say a Tesla 2500M with so many hours of operation has a value of .... This to promotes sales ie add value to your property with a Tesla E5000 system with all of it shared branded model and components, solar panels, inverter, batteries, control electronics, car charger, all installed by an accredited contractor. Tesla can also group negotiate better sales rate for their system putting electricity back into the grid and as part of that leased system. Rather than buy a Tesla system, you can lease it and pay for it by buying electricity and Tesla could also sell surplus electricity back into the grid,a distributive energy generation system (this for medium and high density dwellings).

    There are going to be a whole range of systems of varying styles and capacity (output and storage capacity). Merger made total sense and likely will put Tesla in the to be bought market by an existing major electronics player (the marketing head start Tesla is getting will be extremely difficult to claw back for competitors).

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  13. Re: Crony Capitalism by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    If the subsidies were not a competitive advantage, Tesla would refuse them.

    Other automakers can have the same kinds of subsidies if they sell the same kinds of cars. It's not a handout to Tesla, it's a handout to anyone who wants to sell EVs. It's not Tesla's fault that nobody else can make an EV as good as theirs, in spite of being multi-billion-dollar-revenue automakers which make literally millions of vehicles every year.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  14. I never get interesting stock voting questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've owned stock via a personal account since the year 2000 and all I've ever received in the mail is the usual voting options of "We recommend you vote FOR the list of board members, the choice of XYZ as the auditing company, and the executive stock incentive program. We recommend you vote AGAINST the stupid idea(s) being pushed by activist investors."

    I never got anything interesting like "Hey, we want to merge with this other company. Do you think this is a good idea? We recommend you vote FOR this."

  15. Re: Crony Capitalism by dywolf · · Score: 1

    Mi doesn't bother with facts.
    It's easier for him to spew his BS that way.

    --
    The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  16. Re: Crony Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree and I want to point out that the fossil fuel industry gets far more subsidies than the green energy & EV industries.

    List of US Fossil Fuel subsidies from recent G20 report:
    - Expensing of Intangible Drilling Costs
    - Percentage Depletion for Oil and Natural-Gas Wells
    - Domestic Manufacturing Deduction for Fossil Fuels
    - Two Year Amortization Period for Geological & Geophysical Expenditures
    - Percentage Depletion for Hard Mineral Fossil Fuels
    - Expensing of Exploration and Development Costs for Hard Mineral Fuels
    - Capital Gains Treatment for Royalties of Coal
    - Deduction for Tertiary Injectants
    - Exception to Passive-Loss Limitation for Working Interests in Oil and Natural-Gas Properties
    - Enhanced Oil Recovery Credit (EOR) Credit
    - Marginal Wells Credit
    - Corporate Tax Income Exemption for Fossil-Fuel Publicly Traded Partnerships
    - Excise Tax Exemption for Crude Oil Derived from Tar Sands
    - Royalty-Exempt Beneficial Use of Fuels
    - Royalty-Free Flaring and Venting of Natural Gas
    - Liability Cap on Natural Resource Damage
    - Subsidies for fossil fuels used in the residential sector
    - Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

  17. Re:Crony Capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Musk recently tweeted “As for ‘subsidies’, Tesla gets pennies on dollar vs coal. How about we both go to zero?” he said.

    I'd love to see the fossil fuel industry try to compete without subsidies and also force them to cover the costs of the pollution they generate and climate change damage they cause. With the exception of natural gas, fossil fuels can't compete any more. The price of wind and solar has dropped so much over the past few years it is now cost competitive and the price is still dropping rapidly every year. Plus, there is the minor bonus that the Earth isn't being destroyed.

  18. Re: Crony Capitalism by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    why would they? Most of them are for the customers so Tesla has NO SAY. In addition, most of them are also offered to competitors. So, to say no, would make it noncompetitive.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  19. Re: Crony Capitalism by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Most of that is true, but some is not.
    LIHEAP is NOT about the utilities, but about home owners who still have inefficient HVAC. That needs to be stopped and instead, pour the money into UPGRADING the home.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.