theschnell
Member
Wow. As nauseating as it was to sit through that interview, I think everyone should view it because of its potential influence on the market. That is some scathing criticism of Elon from a couple of interviewees besides Lopez. It wasn't just Lopez, but the respected author Bethany McLean of the Enron book as well as Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the associate Dean of the Yale School of Management. Enron and Theranos were brought up in the discussion, as analogs to what is going on with Elon and Tesla. They brought up the comparison with John Carreyrou, the author of Bad Blood, the book about the journey of exposing Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos of fraud. He was ruthlessly attacked by Holmes while investigating Theranos. Bethany directly compared Elon to the angry belligerent behavior of the Enron crooks when they were being investigated. Sonnenfeld agreed with their characterization of Elon. He cites examples of CEOs under attack who came out and just corrected the facts without personally attacking others. He was extremely critical of Elon while being very supportive of Lopez.
They characterize Lopez as a reporter under attack for just trying to get the facts out, which obviously seems to ignore the tone of her articles. Many watching the interview wouldn't know what the tone of her articles is like though. Bethany says Elon's behavior is indication that Lopez is right and that she is on the right track. She commends Lopez for her courage.
Sonnenfeld then talks about "poor Jim Chanos" bering in the middle of Enron and now Tesla. He says it's unfortunate that Elon so fundamentally misunderstands Jim Chanos, who is "a very honest smart guy." "For Musk to somehow say there is some trading taking place from Chanos on this information is ludicrious." (love that choice of word!) They all then agreed with how honest and open Jim Chanos is, and that he speaks openly with all of them frequently. Sonnenfeld indicates that he agrees with Lopez that investors should be worried, and that Elon is holding Tesla's board of directors hostage, while making $2.5 billion this year. Sonnenfeld referred to Lopez as a "brilliant" reporter.
I have to say, if you don't know a lot about Tesla and Elon, this kind of stuff could easily create a lot of concern for investors. This SEC whistleblower situation is making me a little concerned about the shorter term. I sure hope that Elon is squeaky clean and hasn't knowingly exaggerated some things that could be interpreted as an intent to influence investors. I imagine that wouldn't go over well. It's one thing to be eternally optimistic about ramps and future timelines, but it's another thing to knowingly indicate something different than what is occurring in an effort to bring an embattled company through a really tough stretch. I wish I could say that I am 100% confident he has not exaggerated some numbers over this tough model 3 ramp.
The bolded part is the most frustrating part of it all for me. While Musk's wealth on paper may go up or down in value, money he has / will actually be paid this year is $0.00.