Slashdot Mirror
Elon Musk Sells $10 Million in Flamethrowers in Four Days (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters:
A handful of tweets and four days later, Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk has closed orders for his latest novelty product, after selling 20,000 flamethrowers at $500 a piece. "Guaranteed to liven up any party!" was Musk's tagline for a sale which raised $10 million for his high-speed tunnel venture The Boring Company... "When the zombie apocalypse happens, you'll be glad you bought a flamethrower," he tweeted last Saturday. "Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!"
The fundraising comes as Tesla "struggles" meet its production commitments, notes the article, adding that analysts are wondering if the car manufacturer will eventually need billions more in funding.
By Wednesday Musk had sold out his entire suppy of flamethrowers, though "Apparently, some customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a 'Flamethrower'," Musk tweeted Friday night, adding "To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
"Or maybe 'Temperature Enhancement Device.'"
The fundraising comes as Tesla "struggles" meet its production commitments, notes the article, adding that analysts are wondering if the car manufacturer will eventually need billions more in funding.
By Wednesday Musk had sold out his entire suppy of flamethrowers, though "Apparently, some customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a 'Flamethrower'," Musk tweeted Friday night, adding "To solve this, we are renaming it 'Not a Flamethrower'."
"Or maybe 'Temperature Enhancement Device.'"
Has a bigger tank, and only costs $30.
https://www.harborfreight.com/...
He's not going to sell them anywhere he's not allowed. This is a publicity stunt to get government procurement attention around the world and make a quick buck. The actual flame throwers he's selling are actually more of a blow torch... they only go 5' at most (more like 2-3') and don't have a concentrated stream/lasting liquid that continues to burn. You can already buy $900 ones that go 25' or $1600 ones that go 50' from other companies that are far more harmful. What he's done is sell something a farmer might use to clear brush, a fire department might use for controlled buns... but mostly for people to buy to make dumb youtube videos and then put it on a shelf.
You could probably do more damage with a culinary butane torch that you can pick up at your local walmart.
billionaires: we've just cornered the market on rare minerals used to design technology like cellphones and tablets in order to further our wealth and power
Elon: I made ten million dollars on novelty flame throwers branded with the name of my tunnel digging company i came up with on twitter
billionaires:...Is everything OK at home, Elon?
Good people go to bed earlier.
You sell something as a toy, people will play with it. People play with it, they will get injured. Yes I'm sure there are parties were people play with industrial blow torches but we don't need people candy-coating them in the name of making a buck. No amount of disclaimer can cover the idiocy of putting this in the market in the first place.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I seriously doubt he would throw razor blades in a suicide ward.
He would charge for those blades.
It's not Elon's responsibility what you do with a flame thrower after you buy it.
It's not Gillette's responsibility what you cut with a razor blade after you buy it.
It's not Ford's responsibility what you hit with a car after you buy it.
It's not John Deer's responsibility what you run over with a riding lawn mower after you buy it.
It's not Sturm, Ruger & Company's responsibility what you shoot with a gun after you buy it.
It's not Clorox's responsibility what you do with bleach after you buy it.
He knows how to charge people $400 for a weed-removal product used in landscape maintenance that you can get for $30 at Harbor Freight. Brilliant!
This guy obviously feels no responsibility for injuries caused by his products. He would throw a package of razor blades in a suicide ward.
Give me a fucking break. Big Tobacco makes Musks antics look like childs play by comparison, and I can buy shit at Wal-Mart that would make a bigger flame than his toy.
Business failures?
- He sold his first investment to Compaq for $22mil
- his second company merged with what is now known as PayPal which he made $165mil from
- SpaceX sits just above profitability on over $1 billion in revenues
- SolarCity used a capital heavy model to lease panels so they will provide ongoing tax/cash benefits to Tesla long into the future (and are now switching to a non-lease model to increase short term profitability/decrease capital outlay)
Telsa is about the only struggle going on and entirely related to the Gigafactory's inability to mass produce batteries. There's part of the process that they're having to do manually while they fix the automation problems and that's dragging things down/costing the company a lot of money.
The Boring Company/OpenAI/Neurolinks/Hyperloop are pet projects that may lead to something in the future but they're research on a small scale compared to the rest the companies he's involved with.
Seems pretty successful to me.