Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[anthonyj]

What about announcing plans to build electric rovers based on Tesla tech for SpaceX for future moon/mars missions?

Would be a good excuse to merge SpaceX and Tesla.

Elon Tusk on Twitter

Here is a Tweet from 6 days ago. Bringing SpaceX public is a consideration. Perhaps there is a major investor is urging SpaceX to go public, promising to buy many shares? Current $30b valuation is hilariously low imo.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

My take is that the 420 tweet was a huge goof. This latest one is somebody wanting to make a point and taking the most severe interpretation possible. The idea is that a CEO can't just make up stuff in order to manipulate stock.

Yah I get that but this last tweet just looks like he is announcing that he is going to announce something? Is that considered illegal in the US for a guy in Elons position?

 

[mrwuffles]

So take me to school here because

a. I am not an American and don't know much about the "SEC"
b. not sure whats constitutes "norms" re announcements like this.

Is the CEO of a company allowed to tweet something like Elon did? So , no news, just that there is going to be news. With the hate that American society in general has for Elon, is even a simple tweet like this not inviting even more prosecution? Can't the "SEC" see this as stock manipulation?

Frankly it all seems bizarre but kinda curious.

Yes, first amendment is our most treasured, so he can say what he likes if it's not "material" to the company. It's hard to say that announcing a press conference (essentially what he's doing) is material to the company, even if it is giving free press that affects stock prices.

Still, it's probably not wise to poke the bear, as the government has shown it's willing to make up alternative facts to support its positions (and not just this administration--remember Iraq invasion?)

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Are these tweets coding the announcement or are they just random, good mood Elon tweets?

With him, no way to know. We’ve seen things that were so obviously jokes suddenly be real and others fade away.

 

[Curt Renz]

What does "b/o" mean?

Break Out

 

[mrwuffles]

TUSK = Trans-United States Trek.

Maybe... The full cross-country AP drive. Lewandowski's company recently did it in a Level 2 car.

 

[SebastianR]

So take me to school here because

a. I am not an American and don't know much about the "SEC"
b. not sure whats constitutes "norms" re announcements like this.

Is the CEO of a company allowed to tweet something like Elon did? So , no news, just that there is going to be news. With the hate that American society in general has for Elon, is even a simple tweet like this not inviting even more prosecution? Can't the "SEC" see this as stock manipulation?

Frankly it all seems bizarre but kinda curious.

So here is my understanding: In principle it is ok to use Twitter for material information: SEC.gov | SEC Says Social Media OK for Company Announcements if Investors Are Alerted

If you tell some "material information" during trading hours, then irrespective of what you say and how you say it, a company is supposed to tell the exchange 10 minutes before the announcement to enable the stock trading to be halted: Trading halt - Wikipedia

Elon Musk has a "special agreement" with the SEC that requires him to not only follow the 10 minutes rule but also have a babysitter legal counsel to review tweets that are material (e.g. new guidance etc.) before they go out.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

So take me to school here because

a. I am not an American and don't know much about the "SEC"
b. not sure whats constitutes "norms" re announcements like this.

Is the CEO of a company allowed to tweet something like Elon did? So , no news, just that there is going to be news. With the hate that American society in general has for Elon, is even a simple tweet like this not inviting even more prosecution? Can't the "SEC" see this as stock manipulation?

Frankly it all seems bizarre but kinda curious.

It is if there’s no actual news on Thursday(and was never planned to be). Otherwise, no. It’s not manipulation to truthfully give a time for an announcement.

 

[mickificki]

My call:

Tesla news is massive new energy storage contract. Will blow away Hornsdale.

This will definitely happen we just don’t know how soon. I mean the mayor of LA announced the city will not re-power its old gas turbines and will go renewables and battery storage. We’re talking billions of dollars. Hmm, I wonder who the largest producer of battery storage is, that supplies thousands of jobs to Californians...?

 

[printf42]

Maybe Elon just want to prove to the judge that tweeting numbers really does not move the market by comparing with these latest vague tweet.

This is my first thought too, most likely the last tweet was vetted by Tesla Tweet-sitters, that’s why it took 1hour 40min after the previous one.
So this demonstrates to the judge that Tesla has the tweet policing mechanism, and today’s run shows how in-material the 500k tweet was.

Edit: it took 1:36 for the last tweet, not 40min I originally said.

 

[Fact Checking]

Yes, first amendment is our most treasured, so he can say what he likes if it's not "material" to the company. It's hard to say that announcing a press conference (essentially what he's doing) is material to the company, even if it is giving free press that affects stock prices.

Note that it's perfectly fine for Elon to announce material news via Twitter too, under the terms of the SEC settlement, as long as it has been reviewed by Tesla counsel.

I fully expect that today's announcement was reviewed and approved.

(The dispute over the 500k tweet is that Tesla insists the tweet contained already published non-material information that didn't require pre-approval, while the SEC insists it should have gotten approval. The SEC is wrong, and yes, the SEC's argument is this unbelievably petty. )

 

[KarenRei]

Would be a good excuse to merge SpaceX and Tesla.

Elon Tusk on Twitter

Here is a Tweet from 6 days ago. Bringing SpaceX public is a consideration. Perhaps there is a major investor is urging SpaceX to go public, promising to buy many shares? Current $30b valuation is hilariously low imo.

He's made it clear many times that SpaceX will only go public over his dead body, at least until SpaceX is flying regularly to and from Mars. Going public would ruin the mission in pursuit of short-term profits.

You're misinterpreting the above tweet. He was responding on how to let smaller investors into a private SpaceX, not how to take Tesla public. Musk regrets even taking Tesla public.

 

[copyhacker]

Meanwhile at the Shortsville Times...

...they said, as the stock rose over 5%.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Note that it's perfectly fine for Elon to announce material news via Twitter too, as long as it has been reviewed by Tesla counsel.

I fully expect that today's announcement was reviewed and approved.

I asked this before, but I’m curious what would happen if he tweeted just the first two parts without checking with anyone. At that point, it was only potentially Tesla news, but also could have been totally unrelated.

My first instinct was that it would depend on whether the news actually was re:Tesla behind the scenes, but that doesn’t actually make any sense, since it has no impact on potential stock price effects.

Logically the answer should be “no”, because it’s externally not relevant to Tesla. But in practical reality, it certainly will affect the SP.

 

[Mich]

Elon just created a 24h poll on twitter. It's all Mars and Space related, except "Some Tesla News".

What about a Tesla SpaceX merger? What would this mean for us?

 

[sbradbury]

What a roller coaster, this company has given me some serious gray hair.

 

[WarpedOne]

What would this mean for us?

Abandon all hope, run for the hills, never look back, never stop.

 

[Fact Checking]

I asked this before, but I’m curious what would happen if he tweeted just the first two parts without checking with anyone. At that point, it was only potentially Tesla news, but also could have been totally unrelated.

My first instinct was that it would depend on whether the news actually was re:Tesla behind the scenes, but that doesn’t actually make any sense, since it has no impact on potential stock price effects.

Logically the answer should be “no”, because it’s externally not relevant to Tesla. But in practical reality, it certainly will affect the SP.

I believe it would primarily depend on Elon's intent, he has to follow both the letter and the spirit of the settlement contract - and I believe he does, despite justified contempt for the SEC.

The 500k tweet is simply a disagreement over whether the tweet was material or not. I don't for a minute believe that Elon wanted to tweet material news that violated the settlement agreement in any way. He doesn't have to, it would be stupid, it would be pointless and it would be harmful to the mission.

And the fact is that if we examine the context and the public record, Elon indeed didn't tweet material non-public information: he simply tweeted information relying on already public information, with no intent whatsoever to tweet material news.

So the SEC's complaint is erroneous, borderline frivolous, but it takes some time for Tesla to prove this to the judge who is the ultimate adjudicator of the SEC's complaint.

 

[KarenRei]

+5,67% at close. Just barely missed out the best day of the year (1/4/2019, +5,77%). Overall rank: #81th best TSLA day ever (out of 2181)

On the news that Elon the Elephant says "Some Tesla news".

(ED: Already up another half-point after hours

 

[humbaba]

the sell spike at close pushed $TSLA back under $315 -- but it seems a bit of a Pyrrhic victory to me. I keep thinking, "at what cost?"