Elon Musk Tweets About Tesla Sales, the SEC, and a Special Offer From SpaceX (marketwatch.com)

Tesla's model 3 is now one of the five top-selling sedans in America (while sales of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class are down 28 percent through September), Bloomberg reports. Elon Musk tweeted out a link to their article on Thursday -- but it was his other tweet, a satirical criticism of the SEC, that made headlines. MarketWatch reports: Tesla shares ended 7% lower on Friday as Wall Street reacted to Musk's tweet seemingly out of nowhere late Thursday about the "Shortseller Enrichment Commission." Musk also tweeted that day that short sellers were "value destroyers" and should be illegal. Friday's losses for Tesla "produced more than half a billion in paper profit for the shorts," S3 Partners LLC, which tracks real-time short interest data, said in a note. Since news of the Musk's settlement with the SEC, shorts are up $941 million, S3 Partners said. "Clearly short positions are building in the wake of strong selling by longs, as Musk demonstrates a refusal to keep away from controversy," the note said.
The article notes that last Saturday the SEC settled charges that Musk misled investors with a tweet about taking Tesla private. "Terms of the settlement included requiring Tesla to rein in Musk's social-media communications, but it was unclear when Tesla intends to implement that.... The settlement has yet to be court-approved."

On Friday Musk was back on point, tweeting out the news that Tesla owners "can refer someone to buy a Tesla & get any image they want laser etched in glass & sent to deep space for millions of years."

Comments

Re:Jerk or genius?

[taiwanjohn]

Some of both, obviously, but more of the latter IMHO. The guy is under a lot of stress lately, and he's letting his inner demons spill out via Twitter occasionally, leading to some serious consequences for himself and his companies (and shareholders).

Ironically, this is all happening just as Tesla is ramping up Model 3 production to break-even level, where they'll be able to start posting legitimate GAAP profits. If he can just contain his demons for a few more weeks, Tesla will be in a much better position, and the short-sellers will be less of a concern.

He's losing it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, a lot of that threshold is crossed not that much by him but by the public perception, but the overall effects will be indistinguishable in the long run. I hope he manages to claw back on this. Because it would really be a pity if not.

Tweets? Really?

[PopeRatzo]

Now we gotta have news stories on the front page about ANOTHER jackoff's tweets? You know, for a group of nerds who are supposedly above the plebian social media, we sure do hear a lot about tweets around here.

I thought this was a tech site and not just another outlet for billionaires' bullshit.

SHort sellers are never a concern.

[Anonymous Coward]

People who short the stock of have absolutely no affect on a company' operations. None.

Musk likes using short sellers as a distraction from the fact that Tesla is losing money, is cash flow negative and is buried in debt beyond a healthy level. Of course anyone pointing out those facts are called "trolls" or "shorts". Which he then bullies along with his cult following those people. What he did to that analyst during that conference call and to the blogger Montana Skeptic was just pure asshole.

And calling legitimate questions about financials "bonehead questions" instead of answering them is a big red flag. And when you add in the fact that CFOs don't stay put is another red flag. Tesla has some huge problems and those Model 3s are going to do shit.

The focus on the Model 3 deliveries is another distraction.

Also remember that Model S sales have tanked and there's all the Solarcity - the company that Musk bought from his relatives - debt that has to be handled.
Tesla has only been around for as long as it has because Musk keeps getting people to put more money into it. Tesla is not a sustainable business. And I have a sneaky suspicion that Q3 isn't going to be that good - more losses and negative cash flows - because all the press is about Model 3 production numbers. "Ignore the books! Look at all the cars I'm making! Oh! And forget that I said I was going to make 500,000 in 2018!"

Musk should be making 125,000 cars a quarter and he is very very short.

I don't see what the fanboys cannot or refuse to understand this. The Tesla fanboys are just like Creationists in that they refuse any information or facts that contradict their worldview. And the fanboy worldview is that Tesla is the most successful auto maker ever which

There's another outstanding SEC investigation

[fozzy1015]

What people forget is that before the '420 tweet' investigation was announced, there was already an open investigation into Musk's Model 3 production promises. And don't forget the DoJ has an open investigation. If the issues with the feds were settled then why the rant and why now hire a law firm that specializes in defending its clients from fraud? https://www.bloomberg.com/news...

He's delivering to a years-long waiting list

[SlaveToTheGrind]

The Model 3 "sales" metric right now is actually how many he's able to produce to satisfy purchasing decisions people made a long time ago, not how many people went out and made a purchasing decision today.

I don't see how the head-to-head comparison against current sales data of other cars could be meaningful without knowing whether the Model 3 waiting list is growing, shrinking, or staying about the same.