Tesla's Year in Review

[Grendal]

Tesla's Year In Review: Sales And Shares Speed Ahead, But The Ride Gets Bumpy - Forbes

Excellent article by Mark Rogowsky that discusses the highs and lows of the last year for Tesla. If you look at his history of Tesla stories they are on point and he gets what Tesla is trying to do.

 

[jvonbokel]

Excellent article by Mark Rogowsky that discusses the highs and lows of the last year for Tesla. If you look at his history of Tesla stories they are on point and he gets what Tesla is trying to do.

I'll second that on all accounts. I've been following him for a while, and IMO his coverage is very good on Tesla, as well as some other tech companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc).

 

[Mayhemm]

It is a good article, but I take issue with the following:

In an instant, a company that was once beholden to the U.S. government for its very survival was able to pay back its Advanced Technology Vehicle loan to the Dept. of Energy and further crush the short sellers in the process.

Elon has said repeatedly that while the DOE loan helped accelerate Tesla's plans, they were already out of danger financially by the time it happened. It was the investment from Daimler that saved them. Tesla has never been "beholden" to the government in the way this article implies.

 

[jvonbokel]

Tesla has never been "beholden" to the government in the way this article implies.

In this context, I believe beholden means "indebted", not "enslaved" or something similar, as it could be interpreted. Yes, Elon has said that the darkest days in Tesla history were those leading up to Diamler's $50M investment (May 2009), but the $465M ATVM funds approved just a month later were certainly helpful as well. They were certainly solid before paying off the loan, thanks to the low interest rate and manageable payments, and it could be argued that it was largely a symbolic gesture to pay it off early, but it was also financially beneficial to Tesla, as it retired stock options that would have vested later in the 10yr loan term.

 

[Mayhemm]

I largely agree with you, however

a company that was once beholden to the U.S. government for its very survival

clearly implies Tesla would have been done but for the government loan, which is not the case.

Sorry for beating this point into the ground. It just irritates me when people insinuate Tesla would not exist without government aid. Or that the fact they took government money somehow makes them "not a real company".