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Elon Musk Considers Taking Tesla Private
Elon Musk Makes $82 Billion Gambit to Silence Tesla Critics
Seemingly out of the blue, Elon Musk proclaimed that he might pull his money-losing Tesla Inc. off the market. Taking the electric-car company private at the price he touted would amount to an $82 billion valuation, a monumental sum that left many investors wondering: Is this a joke?
It wasn't.
[...] "The reason for doing this is all about creating the environment for Tesla to operate best," Musk, 47, wrote Tuesday in an email to employees. He said wild swings in the carmaker's stock price are a "major distraction" to Tesla workers, who are all shareholders. And he said that being public "puts enormous pressure on Tesla to make decisions that may be right for a given quarter, but not necessarily right for the long-term."
To take Tesla private, Musk would have to pull off the largest leveraged buyout in history, surpassing Texas electric utility TXU's in 2007. And Tesla doesn't fit the typical profile of a company that can raise tens of billions of dollars of debt to fund such a deal.
[...] "The market doesn't believe him," said David Kudla, the CEO of Mainstay Capital Management, which is betting against Tesla. "His credibility has come into question over a number of things. If this were real, you'd expect the stock to go closer to $420 a share than it has." Most major buyouts also require a trip to the junk bond markets, where Tesla has fallen out of favor.
Tesla Shares Resume Trading, Musk Posts Blog on Why Company Should Go Private
"Tesla resumed trading on the Nasdaq exchange after a nearly two-hour pause on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the company confirmed in a blog post that CEO Elon Musk is considering taking the electric car maker private at $420 per share."
foxbusiness.com/markets/elon-musk-fires-up-tesla-blog-to-explain-idea-of-going-private
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:15PM (15 children)
Why did he say he was going to act at $420 per share? Wouldn't it have been smarter to step up buying shares on the open market if he had plans taking the company private?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @09:51PM (1 child)
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/052616/top-4-tesla-shareholders-tsla.asp [investopedia.com]
Does he really need to take it private at all? He controls the company to the extent of being able to do things like merge SolarCity into it. He survived [independent.co.uk] a vote to remove him as chariman. And he will get additional shares based on his performance. Seems like he is still running the show and can crush any opposition without buying more shares. All he has to do is successfully fix the company's problems and get production rolling. Why should a guy who tweeted that his company's stock price was too high care about the distraction of "wild swings" in the stock price (which are in many cases avoidable... don't call people "pedos" on Twitter)?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:15PM
I think is objective is to stop quarterly financial reports. He has insulted investors multiple times and probably wants to have zero accountability.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Thursday August 09 2018, @10:02PM (12 children)
420? You need me to explain the significance of 420?
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @10:35PM
http://jango-raid.ml/?song_id=1070431&t=113278038&a=Dr._Dre&s=The_Next_Episode [jango-raid.ml]
fucken 🅱laze it 🎄🎄🎄🔥🔥🔥
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:33PM (6 children)
Do YOU know the origin and significance of 420 ? I was in high school in the Bay Area in the 70's and can recall hearing the term long before it ever made the news.
From Wikipedia...
In 1971, five high school students – Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich [4] – in San Rafael, California,[5][6] calling themselves the Waldos[7][8] because "their chosen hang-out spot was a wall outside the school",[9] used the term in connection with a 1971 plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop that they had learned about,[7][10] based on a treasure map made by the grower.[11] The Waldos designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 p.m. as their meeting time.[9] The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase "4:20 Louis". After several failed attempts to find the crop, the group eventually shortened their phrase to simply "4:20", which ultimately evolved into a codeword that the teens used to mean consuming cannabis.[10]
Mike Edison says that Steven Hager of High Times was responsible for taking the story about the Waldos to "mind-boggling, cult-like extremes" and "suppressing" all other stories about the origin of the term.[12] Hager wrote "Stoner Smart or Stoner Stupid?", in which he attributed the early spread of the phrase to Grateful Dead followers[13] – after Reddix became a roadie for the Dead's bassist, Phil Lesh[4] – and called for 4:20 p.m. to be the socially accepted hour of the day to consume cannabis.[13]
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2, Disagree) by J053 on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:43PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:57PM
http://time.com/4292844/420-april-20-marijuana-pot-holiday-history/ [time.com]
While what you speak of is possible don't you think Dylan would have spoken up by now ? This is just my opinion of course, YMMV.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 10 2018, @12:29AM (2 children)
April 20 is Adolf Hitlers birthday.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @01:17AM (1 child)
I suggest celebrating in privste, you are already associated too closely with the KKK.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Friday August 10 2018, @05:40AM
I doubt the KKK would give much credit or respect to a half breed Indian like myself. Nor would I associate with an inbred wance like you come off as. I could be misinterpreting something here but I doubt it.
Da-wee-cha-sun coo-sah-oh-na-ah-nit ha-bah-ha-ca-yah-ha-sah wehit
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday August 10 2018, @02:27AM
I think we're parked, man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @12:42AM (3 children)
He offers to buy for 420. But not everyone wants to sell, hoping that Tesla can do more. Musk spends little money buying from doubters, and raises the share value to 420 from 3xx that it is now.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @01:22AM (2 children)
So if current share holders don't sell, do they become partners in a privately held company? I seem to remember that there are rules for who can buy shares of non-public companies and this isn't open to investors/gamblers of average means.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 10 2018, @01:45AM (1 child)
That is a valid and open question, anon. I and a great many others want to own TSLA$, and are not "qualified investors".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @04:21AM
Are you sure you want to gamble on Tesla being able to make cars in high volume? Here's a column from a few weeks ago that comes with many years of experience in the auto industry -- http://www.autoextremist.com/current/2018/7/18/pmd-unplugged-part-iii.html [autoextremist.com]