Elon Musk

The Economic Times released an interesting article with a reaching title ‘How Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors maybe killing flamingos with its electric cars‘ yesterday. The claim is so absurd that it prompted Musk to mock it on Twitter:

Because of course I hate flamingos…(maybe try eating fewer flamingo eggs in your salad)https://t.co/tUKsWqCobo

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2016

While the endangerment of the Flamigos’ environment is not a laughing matter, the publication’s link back to Musk and Tesla certainly looks like one.
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Following the news of the fatal accident in a Tesla Model S on Autopilot, which happened in May but only came to light last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that about half of the approximately one million people who died in auto accidents last year would have been saved if the Tesla Autopilot was universally available.

He made the comment in a somewhat strange email conversation with a retired journalist.
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Mobileye, an Israel-based tech company developing some of the technology behind Tesla’s Autopilot, commented on the fatal Model S crash reported yesterday. A spokesperson said that the company’s current Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system is only meant for rear-end collision avoidance and since the crash was front (of the Model S) to side (of a truck), the system was not designed to avoid it.
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The Tesla Gigafactory 1 is the Chocolate Factory and Elon Musk is Willy Wonka!

Tesla quietly created a ‘Golden Ticket’ drawing for all the Model 3 reservation holders who placed a pre-order during the first day and randomly selected 12 winners to receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Gigafactory Grand Opening.
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Earlier this month, Bloomberg came out with a report claiming that signed a “non-binding memorandum of understanding” with Jinqiao Group, a Shanghai government-owned company, to invest in a $9 billion electric vehicle factory in the region. At the time, Tesla didn’t comment on the report, but now CEO Elon Musk denies that a deal was signed:

@mashable We haven't signed anything for a factory in China

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 27, 2016

Earlier this year, Musk confirmed that the automaker plans on securing a location and a local partner for a manufacturing facility in China by the middle of the 2016, but now we learn that there’s a possibility that Tesla will not have to create a partnership as the government is exploring the a lift of the cap on joint-ventures for automakers.
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Since Tesla announced its offer to buy SolarCity, which is still contingent on a vote by the shareholders, Wall Street has turned on the company with analysts issuing notes claiming that there’s little to no value in the deal. Barclays analyst Brian Johnson issued a note saying that he sees “little in the way of synergies and much in the way of cash burn.”

It’s not like Wall Street analysts have the best foresight, Johnson himself is ranked #2,713 out of 3,984 analysts on TipRank with an average return of -0.7%, but they represent the point of view of the financial sector.

As for the point of view from the actual customer offering/product side, a merger between Tesla and SolarCity will certainly open the door for some interesting product integrations and new distribution opportunities.
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During a conference call discussing the rationale surrounding Tesla’s (TSLA) offer to acquire SolarCity (SCTY) this morning, Elon Musk made a bold claim, something not unusual for the billionaire entrepreneur, he said that he sees potential for Tesla to become a trillion-dollar market cap company – which would be a first.
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Yesterday, Elon Musk surprised a lot of people when he announced that Tesla (TSLA) has made an offer to acquire SolarCity (SCTY). The entrepreneur is the largest individual shareholder of both companies – he owns about 21% of Tesla and 22% of SolarCity.

Some Tesla shareholders are already calling the deal a “bailout” of SolarCity, especially after Musk bought another $10 million worth of shares last year – before the stock fell 60% in 2016. The deal would allow him to convert his shares of SolarCity to Tesla shares at a favorable rate, but we now learn that the move might not be reactionary and actually long in the making.
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Today, Tesla (TSLA) announced that it submitted an offer to acquire SolarCity (SCTY), the leading solar installer in the US. Elon Musk is the largest individual shareholder of both companies. Due to his obvious interest in the deal, which is already being called a bailout by some shareholders, Musk decided to recuse himself from the vote at both companies and leave it to Tesla and SolarCity shareholders to decide on the possible consolidation of ‘Musk Industries’.
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We published an article on a video of a Tesla Model S going through a flooded tunnel over the weekend and Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, shared the article on his popular Twitter account. He then followed up with an interesting Tweet:

If curious abt TSWLM car, am still planning to do a sports sub car that can drive on roads. Just a side project. Limited market potential 🙂

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2016

TSWLM is the acronym of the title for the 1977 James Bond movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me‘. In the movie, Bond was driving a modified Lotus Esprit that could change into a submarine. The vehicle they used in the movie was lost for years, but it was eventually found in a storage locker bought for $100 and three years ago, Elon Musk secretly bought it for ~$900,000 in a bidding war with another car collector.
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In the days following the unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 and the subsequent flood of pre-orders for the vehicle, CEO Elon Musk said that the automaker will be sending out a “token of appreciation” to those who stood in line at the store to reserve the Model 3 before it was even unveiled.

Token of appreciation for those who lined up coming via mail. Thought maybe 20-30 people per store would line up, not 800. Gifts on order.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2016

Indeed, some places had lines of over a thousand people waiting to order the vehicle sight unseen. Now the first reservation holders are reporting starting to receive the ‘thank you’ gift.
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Following reports of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) probing Tesla over a possible problem with the Model S’ suspension and the automaker’s goodwill agreement, it came to light that several false and/or misleading complaints were filed with NHTSA.

A spokesperson for NHTSA confirmed that the agency has not found any safety issue with Tesla’s suspensions and that the company has clarified the language in its goodwill agreement. It considers the issue resolved, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared on Twitter that something suspicious is going on with the suspension complaints:

Would seem to indicate that one or more people sought to create the false impression of a safety issue where none existed. Q is why?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2016

It can be difficult to understand why would someone falsify complaints to an official agency, which can be harmful to both the company and time-wasting for the regulators. The most obvious explanation is always money, and Tesla brought it up in a blog post following last week’s events.
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Tesla recently attracted some criticisms over its Autopilot system. There are primarily two camps when its comes to approaches to developing self-driving cars. Some companies are gradually releasing more and more advanced autonomous and semi-autonomous features (level 2) leading to a fully autonomous system (level 4), like Tesla’s Autopilot, and others, like Google, are aiming to only release a system once the technology is ready for a fully (level 4) self-driving car.

Among the criticisms, scientist Andrew NG said that it was “irresponsible” for Tesla to ship the Autopilot and BMW’s CEO compared the system to an unreliable app. Now it’s Volvo’s turn to go after Tesla’s Autopilot for similar reasons.
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In a lengthy report published yesterday, the Desert Sun described the demise of a young lithium extraction startup and how Tesla tried and failed to buy it for $325 million in TSLA stock back in 2014. It offers an interesting look at Tesla’s acquisition process, something rare for the automaker. The company only made one acquisition: a tool and die company in Michigan.

The article is a long read, but a very interesting one if you have the time. Here’s a much shorter version if you just want the main takeaway points.

Ron Baron, the billionaire founder of Baron Capital, was on CNBC this morning to discuss his latest favorite investment: Tesla Motors (TSLA). The mutual fund manager said that he sees Tesla becoming one of the largest companies in the world and he sees his fund holding it stock for the next 10 to 20 years.
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Last month, we reported on Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Programs, Sterling Anderson, sharing new details about the amount of data the automaker has so far collected through its Autopilot program. He confirmed that the company has collected 780 million miles worth of Autopilot data and that it is adding a million more miles every 10 hours – thanks to a fleet of 70,000+ Teslas equipped with Autopilot hardware.

At the time, we highlighted the importance of data, and potentially sharing data, in achieving a successful fully autonomous system approved by regulator. Now Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that the automaker offered to share all its Autopilot data with the US Department of Transport (DoT) and that the company would even consider sharing data with other automakers.
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Following the Tesla Model 3 unveil in March, CEO Elon Musk said that a “part 2” unveiling event will follow “closer to production”, which is set to start in late 2017. He added that he expects the features that will be revealed at the event will significantly increase the number of reservations Tesla receives for the vehicle – the tally currently stands at close to 400,000 pre-orders.

Fully autonomous driving is expected to be the main new feature to be announced at the event and now Musk did everything but confirm it during a conference yesterday.
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Tesla’s 2016 Shareholders Meeting yesterday was an unusual one. CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel were on stage for close to 4 hours and went through the bulk of Tesla’s history – recounting stories from the early days with longtime employees of the automaker.

We already reported on important nuggets of information the execs released about the Gigafactory and the Model 3 during the event, but what probably stands out the most from the event – from my perspective at least – is Musk’s rant about the importance of the “machine that makes the machine.”
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Tesla (TSLA) 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2016 Annual Meeting”) will be held tomorrow on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. If you can’t attend, don’t worry because as usual Tesla will be live-streaming the event on its website.

The meeting generally starts with a formal part for shareholders to vote on a few things. Last year it was a little more complicated because of two shareholder proposals about the use of leather in Tesla’s vehicles, but this year it should be fairly straightforward. Shareholders will vote on the reelection of two board directors, the reappointment of Tesla’s public accounting firm and on a stockholder proposal to eliminate limited supermajority voting requirements.

After the formal part, CEO Elon Musk should make a short presentation followed by a Q&A session. The Q&A is most entertaining part of the event and Musk generally releases a few interesting nuggets of information. This time will be a little different though as Tesla will apparently take questions voted by the community ahead of time.
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Earlier this week, Tesla confirmed having closed its recent secondary offering with $1.7 billion in net proceeds to finance its Model 3 production program, but part of the offering was also a significant set of transactions in order for Elon Musk to exercise 5,503,972 stock options and then sell 2,782,670 shares to pay taxes.

In a SEC filing issued last night, Tesla confirmed that Musk sold the shares at $213.22 for a total of just over $593 million. After the transaction, Musk’s stake in Tesla stands at 31,100,644 shares worth just over $7 billion.
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It’s a well-known fact at this point that Tesla has a very unusual way to communicate new information for an automaker. The company shares more news through Elon Musk’s Twitter account than with press releases and this latest instance is a perfect example.
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