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Elon Musk Says Investors Convinced Him Tesla Should Stay Public (washingtonpost.com)
Weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his intentions to take his company private, on late Friday, he said investors have convinced him that he shouldn't take the company private, so the firm will remain on the public stock markets. From a report: The eccentric and sometimes erratic CEO said in a statement late Friday that he made the decision based on feedback from shareholders, including institutional investors, who said they have internal rules limiting how much they can sink into a private company. Musk met with the electric car and solar panel company's board on Thursday to tell them he wanted to stay public and the board agreed, according to the statement. In a blog post, Mr. Musk shared the rationale behind his decision, to which he arrived after speaking with investors, both large and small, banks and others. He said: Given the feedback I've received, it's apparent that most of Tesla's existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company. Additionally, a number of institutional shareholders have explained that they have internal compliance issues that limit how much they can invest in a private company. There is also no proven path for most retail investors to own shares if we were private. Although the majority of shareholders I spoke to said they would remain with Tesla if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was "please don't do this."
I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it's clear that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated. This is a problem because we absolutely must stay focused on ramping Model 3 and becoming profitable. We will not achieve our mission of advancing sustainable energy unless we are also financially sustainable. That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.
I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it's clear that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated. This is a problem because we absolutely must stay focused on ramping Model 3 and becoming profitable. We will not achieve our mission of advancing sustainable energy unless we are also financially sustainable. That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.
1) Vern Unsworth was - despite a huge amount of bad reporting - not one of the rescuers. He's the guy who reported the initial information about the cave to the rescue team, as he lives nearby and had spent a lot of time exploring it.
2) Musk's comments - while inappropriate - didn't come in a vacuum. They came after Unsworth got on international television and told Musk to shove the submarine up his arse. The submarine that had been requested by Rick Stanton, the dive co-lead, down to the specific specifications for it, with encouragement to keep working on it right up to the last day.
3) Even after Musk publicly apologized to Unsworth, Unsworth's mother did an interview where she called for Musk to be shot. Lovely family, really. (I guarantee you, there's far more people out there who have the hatred of Musk and the means to kill him if they wanted than people who even know that Vern Unsworth exists).
The chloride owes the sodium money.