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Elon Musk Says Investors Convinced Him Tesla Should Stay Public (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the change-of-heart dept.

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.

9 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Great Story by Brett+Buck · · Score: 3, Funny

    You be sure and tell them that down at the police station...

    1. Re:Great Story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      when did changing your mind become a crime

      When it involves lies to manipulate you’re stock price.

    2. Re:Great Story by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      when did changing your mind become a crime

      Disseminating or manipulating information that can affect stock prices is tightly regulated by the SEC. Doing so in a false or misleading way can be a criminal offense.

      Elon used Twitter is make an announcement that caused a big movement in Tesla's stock price. He profited big time from this by forcing many shorties to abandon their positions at a loss. Then he comes back and says "Nevermind".

      There should be an SEC investigation, and if it turns out that the "investors" never existed with the capital to privatize, then there should be criminal charges.

      Disclaimer: My wife owns a Tesla, and I have been accused in the past of being a Tesla-fanboi.

  2. But, but, but... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Funny

    Funding Secured! $420 per share! Done deal!

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    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  3. ah by ChoGGi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So, is Musk's way of saying if he tried to take Tesla private the board would've ousted him?

  4. Musk hasn't "changed his mind" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He is being told to let go and he's letting go.

    Tesla needs a serious amount of fresh money to overcome losses, stalling demand, talent loss and the incoming high and low cost competition.

    The Tony Stark wannabe attention whore isn't the answer, an adult manager is, if Tesla is to have a good chance of a turnaround.

    It shedding the crazy buy at any price stock fan club is another.

    But the most important will be hiring people who know how to make cars, and hope they can reverse the damage from Team Amateur.

    1. Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" by Rei · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Those roads would have been bid at 2 years, and at $100 million per mile, but he'd get them done in 4 years, at $200 million per mile

      Only if the normal cost and time for said roads would be 8 years and $1B per mile.

      As a general rule, Musk sets "ridiculously aggressive" targets for his companies, but only hits "quite aggressive" ones. But better to shoot for the stars and miss than shoot for the gutter and hit it. As a reminder: even with the half-year delay** on the Model 3 production scaleup, they still scaled up faster than the Bolt, which was built on an existing line with an existing workforce. And now Tesla's volumes now make everyone else look like they're missing a zero.

      ** Then again, the *original* schedule for the Model 3 wasn't to start production until the end of 2017 anyway; they only missed the *moved up* schedule, not the original one.

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      The chloride owes the sodium money.
    2. Re: Musk hasn't "changed his mind" by Rei · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nice concern trolling; it's funny how the shorts and Tesla opponents vocally "care" way much more about the timing of the base model than the actual reservation holders. Because Tesla is doing the exact same thing as Jaguar is doing, as Hyundai is doing, etc (selling higher-optioned-out variants of their EVs first).

      They can sell every LR+PUP they produce, even without opening up three quarters of their global market. But they should totally sell lower margin versions instead in order to make a bunch of trolls happy, right?

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      The chloride owes the sodium money.
    3. Re:Musk hasn't "changed his mind" by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

      LOL back. A lot of us here on Slashdot aren't Americans

      And yet somehow pretend that the US plus Canada is Tesla's total market nonetheless - rather than it being a quarter of their market.

      One reason is, of course, the absurdly high prices of what is otherwise a pretty unremarkable vehicle.

      Highest-polling consumer satisfaction year-over-year of any brand.

      ...the sales outside of the two countries that provide a significant subsidy are down sharply: https://twitter.com/auto_schmi

      Per-country month-by-month sales are mostly a reflection of delivery allocation. You people have been nonstop predicting a Tesla demand cliff ever since it founded - every year, every month. You'd think a broken record would have been right once in all this time.

      The Dutch subsidy is disappearing next year

      The subsidy in question only concerns commercial buyers. It's a 4% currently, but will go to 22% for the amount of a car's price over €50000. So, say, for an €80000 Model S the tax for commercial buyers (again, reiterating that aspect) goes from €3200 to €8600, or €5200 more expensive. Meaningful, but not dramatic either for someone in the market for an €80000 car; nothing remotely like, say, the HK case (which wasn't just about commercial cars). For a €50000-or-less Model 3 (arriving in NL early next year), it will have no impact whatsoever. For, say, a €60000 well optioned Model 3, it only adds €1800 to the price.

      This is your trump card? To overcome the huge annual year-over-year EV demand growth? *snicker*

      But the major shift in the interest away from Tesla in Europe is due to new models, real cars from real car manufacturers

      *snicker*. Why, yes, cars being produced in tiny volumes are going to totally kill Tesla.

      Econoboxen: Maybe it'll be the Hyundai Kona that kills them? Yeah, with global annual production volumes equal to three weeks of Model 3 production (which itself is far from at max), that's totally going to destroy them. Niro? Same. Meanwhile, a number of older econobox models are declining or disappearing. Hey, maybe Leaf can overcome its order-of-magnitude falling behind Model 3 with its new cooling system fixing #Rapidgate! Except, um, the same was said about the E-NV200, and its cooling system is terrible, and only slightly reduces the consequences of #Rapidgate. Here, name your "Tesla killer", go on!

      Luxury EVs: What about the (delayed) I-Pace, that car that eats 275 Wh/km@88 kph (Model 3 = half that) but can only charge at 70-80kW at rarer higher power CCS stations for only 30% of its SoC before taper (Model 3 = 50% SoC @ 117kW from current superchargers, more from V3) and only ~45kW from the much more common lower power stations, has no more passenger "area" inside than a Model 3 (just higher) despite laughably pretending that it's X sized because it's a "SUV", has a hilariously awkward nav system and an AP that drives like its drunk, and is only planned at production volumes of (estimates vary) 10-30k per year, with the largest chunk of those going to Waymo, not private buyers? My god, Tesla should fear for its life! ;) E-Tron looks to be in the exact same situation of low volumes and guzzling energy without comparable charge rates, meaning you can't actually use it like... well, a car. Aka, a device you can actually use to drive between point A and point B even if A and B aren't near each other. If it can only take you around your local area, that a neighborhood electric vehicle, and it's at best a second car. The first one in the luxury segment that looks like it will be interesting is the Taycan (though their burn-out-your-cells charge rates are concerning, they at least understand the importance of streamlining), although t

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      The chloride owes the sodium money.