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

[Krugerrand]

So either Baglino wasn't offered this, or he was and he still chose not to take the sabbitical. If it was just to spend more time with family, taking the sabbatical first is a no brainer.

Or he already took a sabbatical. Or he’s not interested in taking resources from Tesla for any additional time. Or the fact others are getting laid off without that option and he can afford to pay his own medical coverage - so you know, he’s trying not to be a dick.

Just because YOU would take the free ride for a few months, doesn’t mean he would. And yea, clearly you would take it by the very fact you think it’s a no brainer.

 

[wipster]

It’s possible.

I’m inclined to think we’re at the ‘it’s easy for deadweight and over-expenditure and waste etc’ to hide in a big company that keeps growing, and with that growth being at multiple locations. Additionally, with the company being in a transitional state, I just think this is trimming fat and making sure everyone involved maintains that company culture that has led to today’s success.

I’d love for Optimus to be part of this, but I’m going to need to see proof. Like Tesla showing off something.

Agreed, but it seems more than just circumstantial in the current time frame, especially for manufacturing and the design of the Gen3/RT which is being designed to easier and less expensive to build.

Perhaps we'll here from Optimus next week!

 

[ggies07]

Please someone confirm this, but executive teams generally leave due to a lack of strategic fit with what the organization is trying to do going forward.

If Model 2 is indeed scrapped and its full-on RT et al...then is it a possibility that Rohan and Drew weren't a strategic fit anymore and Tesla needs to bring aboard or up-level people that fit what they're trying to do over the next 1-10 years?

Yep. If true, it seems batteries and battery chemistry are not the main topics anymore.

 

[Linkmeup]

Yep. If true, it seems batteries and battery chemistry are not the main topics anymore.

Everything is definitely about Mars! Whatever it takes to have a human civilization in 20 years. I say this because it seems like Tesla is not only pioneering a ton of new tech....it's also dropping costs for all this new tech and offloading it to other players in the ecosystem like Panasonic, LGChem, CATL, etc. on the battery side.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do this for vehicles down the line too even though they kinda already are with the open sourcing of the drive train, NACS, etc.

 

[Krugerrand]

Over on Reddit, there are a couple of stories of how this has the employees on edge from an employee at Fremont. A person taking their car to the local service center being told wait times will up because they got hit with layoffs of techs. If you showed up at the Austin Factory and your badge did not work, that means you were laid off. That sucks, Tesla do better, you are not a startup anymore. Don't be surprised if the UAW did not use this to their advantage.

Wonder if the cheaper Chinese employees were hit as hard. Not all areas of the company were hit evenly. I don't get laying off tech, more cars sold mean more servicing needed.

FYI, same thing happened and was said last time Tesla had a layoff. And the time before. And the time before. Nothing new.

 

[heltok]

Drew started as a junior at Tesla back in 2006. It was a very high risk startup and most people only do these startups for a year or two. He has been massively incentivised to stay with stock options that has since then gone to the moon. His salary likely was in the millions and his stock options $106M. Now 18 years later of 60-80h workweeks he has young kids he finally decided are more important to him than the mission. How long would you have lasted? Would you have FIREd at $10M or stayed for another 10 years for $100M? Would you have FatFIREd at $100M or stayed another 10years for $1B? We all have our limit for when we have had enough. The fact that he stayed for that long speaks to the culture of Tesla.

 

[Linkmeup]

THIS IS SO COOL WHAT ELON MUSK AND TEAM ARE DOING!!!!! THEY'RE ENGINEERING WITH 10000000% EFFICIENCY TOWARDS MARS.

 

[MD70]

Gwynn Shotwell is an engineer by training and she certainly started out her career doing engineering.

I worded this poorly. I meant with spacex she is not known for her engineering work. She works on the sales side and managing customers. (Which she does very well)

 

[Krugerrand]

Please someone confirm this, but executive teams generally leave due to a lack of strategic fit with what the organization is trying to do going forward.

If Model 2 is indeed scrapped and its full-on RT et al...then is it a possibility that Rohan and Drew weren't a strategic fit anymore and Tesla needs to bring aboard or up-level people that fit what they're trying to do over the next 1-10 years?

Nobody can confirm. We don’t know any of these people. We only have what they say and for all intents and purposes their departures were amicable, and Tesla will march on.

I know everyone is impatient for the final outcome, and Tesla’s secrecy makes some lose their minds. Patience. Live in the moment. And for the love of pizza, stop making up stories in your minds. They aren’t even very good ones as a whole. None of you are Stephen King, that’s for sure.

 

[Linkmeup]

 

[Thekiwi]

Hypothetically, where does everyone think Drew sat in the Tesla succession line?

I thought he would be a prime candidate for CEO in the “if Elon was hit by a bus” scenario.

Anyone else have thoughts about who would have been better as potential successor, that had broad intimate knowledge and experience of the company and its product development methodology?

 

[MD70]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1779949813431165416

IF this is true then just like with the late 4680 cells then the massive risk is no huge increases in vehicle sales for many years.

 

[cliff harris]

I think people are forgetting that when Elon bought twitter he fired WAY MORE than 10% of the staff there (wasn't it about 75%?) and the site actually got way BETTER, with tons more features, way better financials, and way more users.
The market reaction is depressing but not surprising. I had to wade through billions of tons of FUD and doom-mongering from idiots I knew around the twitter purchase. They all quickly registered their bluesky and mastadon accounts, because twitter would collapse within a week.

They all now post on X.

 

[Krugerrand]

Agreed, but it seems more than just circumstantial in the current time frame, especially for manufacturing and the design of the Gen3/RT which is being designed to easier and less expensive to build.

Perhaps we'll here from Optimus next week!

I am ever hopeful. It may be a lead up to/preparation for - I needs the proof, otherwise business as usual. We’ll see what happens next week.

 

[MD70]

Hypothetically, where does everyone think Drew sat in the Tesla succession line?

I thought he would be a prime candidate for CEO in the “if Elon was hit by a bus” scenario.

Anyone else have thoughts about who would have been better as potential successor, that had broad intimate knowledge and experience of the company and its product development methodology?

In dictatorships it’s dangerous been the second in line. If / when the time comes for a successor it may be someone not as well known.

 

[cliff harris]

Hypothetically, where does everyone think Drew sat in the Tesla succession line?

I thought he would be a prime candidate for CEO in the “if Elon was hit by a bus” scenario.

Anyone else have thoughts about who would have been better as potential successor, that had broad intimate knowledge and experience of the company and its product development methodology?

Tom zhu Tom Zhu - Wikipedia
Drew was great but he didnt have the killer instinct Elon has. Unsure about Tom.

 

[Krugerrand]

Hypothetically, where does everyone think Drew sat in the Tesla succession line?

I thought he would be a prime candidate for CEO in the “if Elon was hit by a bus” scenario.

Anyone else have thoughts about who would have been better as potential successor, that had broad intimate knowledge and experience of the company and its product development methodology?

Nowhere in line.

Nobody.

 

[Linkmeup]

View attachment 1038781

More on the topic.

 

[Usain]

IF this is true then just like with the late 4680 cells then the massive risk is no huge increases in vehicle sales for many years.

That's right. It's robotaxi or bust! (literally?)

 

[MD70]

I think people are forgetting that when Elon bought twitter he fired WAY MORE than 10% of the staff there (wasn't it about 75%?) and the site actually got way BETTER, with tons more features, way better financials, and way more users.
The market reaction is depressing but not surprising. I had to wade through billions of tons of FUD and doom-mongering from idiots I knew around the twitter purchase. They all quickly registered their bluesky and mastadon accounts, because twitter would collapse within a week.

They all now post on X.

Slight difference between Twitter and tesla.
If Twitter goes down for a while so what ?
Tesla needs x number of staff to actually make physical products, if these are being cut then it is a demand problem.

Also every year more Tesla’s are on the road. Every year as more of them get older they will need service and repairs. If the service centres capacity doesn’t expand to accommodate this it will cause used tesla prices to drop further and thus impacting sales of new ones.