Elon Musk

[sdrevik]

So Elon is now putting the pause on the Twitter buyout.

It’s no surprise that she would be abnormally pumping the brakes, LOL

 

[FlatSix911]

 

[wdolson]

So Elon is now putting the pause on the Twitter buyout.

It’s no surprise that she would be abnormally pumping the brakes, LOL

His loan against the Tesla stock makes the loan callable if Tesla stock dropped 40% from when he took out the loan at $1100. The threshold is around $660 and the stock hit $680 in Thursday. He's probably sweating that deal right now.

There is also a lawsuit by a union that invested in Twitter that looks like it could be hung up in court for a couple of years. The Twitter deal would not be able to close as long as that lawsuit is pending.

Losing $1 billion and walking away might be a good bet at this point. Another down week like this one and Tesla may crack that $660 floor.

 

[mongo]

His loan against the Tesla stock makes the loan callable if Tesla stock dropped 40% from when he took out the loan at $1100. The threshold is around $660 and the stock hit $680 in Thursday. He's probably sweating that deal right now.

There is also a lawsuit by a union that invested in Twitter that looks like it could be hung up in court for a couple of years. The Twitter deal would not be able to close as long as that lawsuit is pending.

Losing $1 billion and walking away might be a good bet at this point. Another down week like this one and Tesla may crack that $660 floor.

Elon does not currently have a Twitter related loan to call.
The size of the potential margin loan has already been halved and he is in the process of eliminating the need for it entirely via 3rd party equity.
Even if he did need a margin loan to complete the funding, I believe Rob M reported the trigger level is at 40% of value, not 40% drop.

Elon & Twitter

 

[Gixx1300R]

It is time that Elon stepped down as CEO of Tesla

 

[zecar]

It is time that Elon stepped down as CEO of Tesla

Really. With Musk's horrible track record how did he ever get that job?

 

[spacerfc]

So much for "But other companies' CEOs don't tweet about politics":

Bezos: Disinformation board should investigate Biden tweet

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos criticized President Biden for a tweet the president wrote suggesting that taxing wealthier corporations could help bring down inflation, calling lumping the two topics to…

thehill.com

 

[Gixx1300R]

Really. With Musk's horrible track record how did he ever get that job?

Musk has a good track record but recently his antics have driven down Tesla's stock prices. There are other factors but his actions and behavior didnt help the situation. There are too many issues with Tesla that aren't being addressed. Musk knows about them but chooses to ignore them.

 

[Dave EV]

So much for "But other companies' CEOs don't tweet about politics":

Bezos: Disinformation board should investigate Biden tweet

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos criticized President Biden for a tweet the president wrote suggesting that taxing wealthier corporations could help bring down inflation, calling lumping the two topics to…

thehill.com

IMO, Bezos' tweet is completely fair and actually highlights the issue Elon brought up earlier (and to be fair, I think that Elon is just as guilty of falling into the middle of his own posted meme more often than not). But hey - let's not fall into the same trap. I think your post also falls into the middle as well. This highlights what I think is the biggest problem with politics today - tribalism with everyone seeming to have a desire to get in the best "gotcha" or cheap-shot that they can - and Twitter, undoubtedly is the best format for perpetuating this problem.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1525309091970699265

 

[mspohr]

Meet the former Nazi rocket scientist who all too accurately saw the future | John Naughton

As well as serving in the SS and a second act as a Nasa engineer, Wernher von Braun wrote a Martian sci-fi novel with a prescient twist…

www.theguardian.com

But the real knockout, at least for this columnist, is Von Braun’s account of how these super-humanoids are governed. It is all done by a group of 10 “men” under an ultra-wise leader.

And what do they call this super-sage?

Why, “the Elon”.

Remind you of anyone?

 

[wdolson]

Elon does not currently have a Twitter related loan to call.
The size of the potential margin loan has already been halved and he is in the process of eliminating the need for it entirely via 3rd party equity.
Even if he did need a margin loan to complete the funding, I believe Rob M reported the trigger level is at 40% of value, not 40% drop.

Elon & Twitter

It looks like he still has the loan against his Tesla stock, but he's reducing it from $13 billion to $6.25 billion. This article doesn't mention a call trigger on the loan.
Revealed: How Elon Musk Plans To Pay For Twitter

Really. With Musk's horrible track record how did he ever get that job?

Companies, especially tech companies go through three phases:
1) Entrepreneur phase
2) Engineer phase
3) Bean counter phase

Many companies fail in the entrepreneur phase, but this is a time of high growth and high dynamics at a company. The company is usually led by the founder(s) or people who came on board in the company's infancy. In the engineering phase, the company is very stable and the risk of going out of business is very low. Engineers usually take the helm and the company sees lower, but steady growth.

When the bean counters take over, all they care about is profits. The company's reputation falters and the bean counters milk money out of old products until the company folds. Carly Fiorina took HP from the engineering phase into the bean counter phase. HP had been the gold standard in a number of market niches, but they are now not considered the best at much of anything.

Elon is an entrepreneur and piloted Tesla through the rocky shoals of a start up. Tesla is now in the engineering phase and an entrepreneur's instincts are not good for a company in the engineering phase. They need a highly competent and solid engineer to run the company and shepherd its expansion from the plucky start up in the automotive business into a market volume leader. It's a different skill set that requires a different person at the helm.

 

[mspohr]

It looks like he still has the loan against his Tesla stock, but he's reducing it from $13 billion to $6.25 billion. This article doesn't mention a call trigger on the loan.
Revealed: How Elon Musk Plans To Pay For Twitter



Companies, especially tech companies go through three phases:
1) Entrepreneur phase
2) Engineer phase
3) Bean counter phase

Many companies fail in the entrepreneur phase, but this is a time of high growth and high dynamics at a company. The company is usually led by the founder(s) or people who came on board in the company's infancy. In the engineering phase, the company is very stable and the risk of going out of business is very low. Engineers usually take the helm and the company sees lower, but steady growth.

When the bean counters take over, all they care about is profits. The company's reputation falters and the bean counters milk money out of old products until the company folds. Carly Fiorina took HP from the engineering phase into the bean counter phase. HP had been the gold standard in a number of market niches, but they are now not considered the best at much of anything.

Elon is an entrepreneur and piloted Tesla through the rocky shoals of a start up. Tesla is now in the engineering phase and an entrepreneur's instincts are not good for a company in the engineering phase. They need a highly competent and solid engineer to run the company and shepherd its expansion from the plucky start up in the automotive business into a market volume leader. It's a different skill set that requires a different person at the helm.

I think Elon is a brilliant engineer

 

[30seconds]

the loan isn’t funded so there isn’t a call. It would be a standard that the loan and all capital is funded along with the deal close.

Maybe there would be an escrow account, but given that there would be months of regulatory review before any deal close it seems early for that as well.

However the terms regarding Elon’s cash commitment are probably dependent on Tesla share price since it was going to be used as collateral.

This may have turned into a situation where he was going to need to sell more Tesla shares to get the deal closed.

 

[spacerfc]

I think Elon is a brilliant engineer

Yep, he's literally the Chief Engineer at SpaceX, and was elected to National Academy of Engineering recently.

 

[bo3bdar]

So Elon is now putting the pause on the Twitter buyout.

It’s no surprise that she would be abnormally pumping the brakes, LOL

That's not Elon pumping the brakes... that's just a phantom braking event.

 

[wdolson]

I think Elon is a brilliant engineer

Most tech start ups are started by people with engineering backgrounds, and most are brilliant engineers too. Being a manager is a different skill set from being a brilliant engineer. I've observed up close, I am an engineer who has been into Psychology since I was 16 and lived with someone who has a masters in Psych for 25 years. We discuss Psychology a lot around here. I contracted for about 10 years and worked in a lot of different companies and I've seen a lot of engineering managers in action. Some were brilliant engineers when they were doing engineering, but they are horrible managers.

The best managers were usually people who were OK engineers, but have a lot of people skills. They knew enough to know what everyone was doing without needing to know the nitty gritty details.

I've also had to deal with some managers who were awful engineers who somehow failed up. One was so bad he affected my health. I developed stomach problems after a few months. He wanted to micromanage everybody, but he didn't have a clue what anyone was doing. Everybody else on the project was one of the best engineering teams I've ever worked with, it was just the guy in charge. His boss was great too.

I haven't been an engineering manager, but I have been in charge of volunteer events outside of work. The skills needed to manage people are very different than those needed to design and get something to work.

 

[mspohr]

Most tech start ups are started by people with engineering backgrounds, and most are brilliant engineers too. Being a manager is a different skill set from being a brilliant engineer. I've observed up close, I am an engineer who has been into Psychology since I was 16 and lived with someone who has a masters in Psych for 25 years. We discuss Psychology a lot around here. I contracted for about 10 years and worked in a lot of different companies and I've seen a lot of engineering managers in action. Some were brilliant engineers when they were doing engineering, but they are horrible managers.

The best managers were usually people who were OK engineers, but have a lot of people skills. They knew enough to know what everyone was doing without needing to know the nitty gritty details.

I've also had to deal with some managers who were awful engineers who somehow failed up. One was so bad he affected my health. I developed stomach problems after a few months. He wanted to micromanage everybody, but he didn't have a clue what anyone was doing. Everybody else on the project was one of the best engineering teams I've ever worked with, it was just the guy in charge. His boss was great too.

I haven't been an engineering manager, but I have been in charge of volunteer events outside of work. The skills needed to manage people are very different than those needed to design and get something to work.

So, your OP said Entrepreneur, Engineer, Bean counter phases.
Where do you put the Manager phase?

 

[wdolson]

So, your OP said Entrepreneur, Engineer, Bean counter phases.
Where do you put the Manager phase?

All three are managers, just different kinds. Entrepreneur managers are focused on the survival of the company and getting the product to market. It's a hard scrabble fight against many factors for survival. Engineering managers are usually what could be classified and "good" managers, they are at the helm of a large ship that has the capacity to weather most storms and they get on with the mission of the company. The company innovates, and grows, but at a slow and steady pace. The bean counters also manage the company, but with the goal of sucking as much cash out before the company dies.

I was reading an article about how Sears is dying a year or so back. The bean counter managers sold off the Sears brands that were keeping the company afloat like Kenmore and Craftsman and they bought back stock to prop up the stock price rather than invest in shifting to an online brand that could be an alternative to Amazon. As a result, the brand is about dead now.

 

[mspohr]

All three are managers, just different kinds. Entrepreneur managers are focused on the survival of the company and getting the product to market. It's a hard scrabble fight against many factors for survival. Engineering managers are usually what could be classified and "good" managers, they are at the helm of a large ship that has the capacity to weather most storms and they get on with the mission of the company. The company innovates, and grows, but at a slow and steady pace. The bean counters also manage the company, but with the goal of sucking as much cash out before the company dies.

I was reading an article about how Sears is dying a year or so back. The bean counter managers sold off the Sears brands that were keeping the company afloat like Kenmore and Craftsman and they bought back stock to prop up the stock price rather than invest in shifting to an online brand that could be an alternative to Amazon. As a result, the brand is about dead now.

I thought Sears died 20 years ago.
Ironic that the company that invented mail order didn't make the transition to mail order

 

[wdolson]

I thought Sears died 20 years ago.
Ironic that the company that invented mail order didn't make the transition to mail order

Yes it is. KMart in the US is dying too, but in Australia it's a destination shopping place. I find that weird.