TSLA Market Action: 2018 Investor Roundtable

[JRP3]

The problem is the other stuff - "Funding secured", and especially "contingent only on shareholder vote". That last part appears now to have been false, and that makes it pretty darn reckless.

As has been pointed out repeatedly, funding secured does not mean signed documents. If Elon had discussions with groups who had the ability to fund it and was convinced they were willing to do so then it was an accurate statement. If funding was lined up then shareholder vote would have been the only potential unknown, hence the word "contingent".

 

[AlMc]

Some yokel questions a Bloomberg reporter on this.

Dana Hull on Twitter

Jim, I do not come here much anymore but you are one of the few people whose posts I miss by not being more active....WELL DONE SIR!

 

[Sudre]

I think the point being missed in manipulation and why the SEC will do nothing is people don't get why the story comes out first. If the SEC looks into the drop as manipulation and they see a potential reason for the drop they will conclude there was no manipulation. The price dropped because people believed the story and shorted the stock or sold massive positions. That's exactly how the stock markets is supposed to work. The Bears will claim they then started covering or buying shares after the price dropped 9.8% because they felt at that point the stock was undervalued.

IF! If the above is true, which most will probably agree that is how it works, then everything Elon tweeted should not render any SEC or DOJ action. If shorts can simply say their intent was a sell the news event and not manipulation then Elon can simply say he believed everything he said to be true at the time he said it. The only difference is the SEC is investigating Tesla. Why aren't they asking the big shorts of today any questions. Particularly the one that missed his/her timing and sold too soon. I guess even if they did it would not make the news cycle.

 

[trentbridge]

In the English language that I grew up with, the verb "am" is a reference to a singular person as the nominative.

I am
you are
they are

When Musk tweets: "am considering taking Tesla private at $420." I would say that he could never be speaking for the Company or the BOD. He has to be speaking as an individual. If he had BOD approval, he would have tweeted "We are considering..."

It's a small point but it may be important...

 

[tinm]

Thanks for that. That has been bugging me too.

I'm all for "not an advice" and hope the tradition continues.

However, the rampant misuse of "loose" instead of "lose" and "it's" instead of "its" drive me up the wall.

 

[JRP3]

Don't know if I missed this but according to NYT GS and Silverlake have been given subpoenas on the matter.
Justice Department Is Examining Tesla After Musk Comment

As part of the investigation, the S.E.C. in the past month has sent subpoenas not only to Tesla but also to financial institutions that it hired to explore the going-private transaction, according to people briefed on the subpoenas. Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake, a large investment firm, both received subpoenas demanding materials about their interactions with Tesla, the people said.

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

or.....your name

Could you please stop answering to ghosts?
Please just don't feed them, and they may go away...

 

[dmckinstry]

Our smart neighbor to the north is about to vote for the legalization of Marijuana. This country can't follow fast enough. The absolute lunacy of the "war" on drugs needs to stop.

IMHO the real war on drugs should be against the pharmaceutical companies that overcharge (look at Canadian drug prices) and push legal drugs that are far more dangerous that cannabis. In many cases cannabinoids provide safer pain/stress relief than prescription drugs. The fear drug companies have is that cannabis becomes (at least medical varieties) generally available.

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

Don't worry I'm leaving, I fully expect to get banned - but this thread really ought not try and portray itself as a place for serious conversation about investment, given anything remotely questioning the company or even positing any idea that isn't "Tesla is going to be a $2 trillion company, and if you can't see that, you're a worthless piece of *sugar*", is immediately ripped apart by people who sound more like Nindendo fanboys than serious investors.

I really do not understand the level of hostility towards basic information and data about Tesla - there are almost 5 pages of comments saying the Bloomberg article was FUD - yes it was written sensationally but it was accurate - so it's clearly not 'FUD'. Many comments are down-voted because people don't like basic facts stated in them..

I on;y actually joined this thread because someone who is (was?) an investor in TSLA asked my opinion on something. The vast majority of people who post in this thread are morons and clearly should not be allowed anywhere near a trading desk.

While I am on this rant, the phrase "not an advice" is grammatically illiterate. It should either be "This is not advice" or (better) "Not an Advisement".

/mic

In your first couple of days here, I sent you my Ignore list.
If you implement it, you will find that this place is decent.
I have an updated one. Let me know...

 

[jhm]

(via reddit)

I wonder if this still happens (from 2013) Bloomberg News Pays Reporters More If Their Stories Move Markets

TL;DR among other things they get bonuses for "market moving" stories. They also got them for accuracy but I am pretty sure which one is easier to do repeatedly and efficiently.

If that's already the environment you're in, and that seems totally ethical (or, just have no more ethics) to you, it's not much of a leap to leak a story a few minutes ahead of time so someone can short ahead of it.

This says a lot about the corporate culture, even if they have discontinued this metric as a basis for bonuses. Moreover, if you understand the importance of their Terminal subscriptions to their business model, this sort of metric is right in line with maximizing those subscriptions. From the trader's perspective who is paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for this, if Bloomberg reporting moves the market and you get it first on the B Terminal, then you must have the Terminal subscription to be a relevant trader. So there is a very deep profit motive in this business model that would push management to press for reporting that moves the market.

Another consequence here is that the market impact of reporting can be easily enhanced by the timing of the release. Had the report today been dropped after trading hours, it would have had only a fraction of the impact. But even during trading hours there is probably a lot of variability in impact. It is uncanny that this was dropped just as in trading it was coming clear that the price was passing a significant resistance threshold. I think this easily added 2 or 3 percent to the impact.

Given the timing issue, it is plausible that even if reporters are not compensated to maximize market impact, that other editors and staff may still be motivated to optimize the timing of dropped news.

 

[Ratanpara]

Despite the current noise it will be very hard for competition to catch Tesla, Tesla is taking page out of Apple play book, Control design , manufacturing, sales and service. Why so many PC maker didn’t thrive, because they all bought commodity products from suppliers and assembled generic products with low margin, Auto industry is in similar pathway, it’s an industry standard, buy everything from suppliers an and assemble products, products may be ok but never a great product and total experience of owning a product.

Got my Model 3 ,week ago, amazing car, plant to drive 200 K miles over next 10 years with 10K in saving in Gas.

 

[beachbum77]

Saying he was considering taking Tesla private was not reckless and stupid if it was the truth. By tweeting he actually better informed common investors such as ourselves instead of preferentially telling only large institutional holders, which is likely the more "normal" action. Elon did nothing wrong at all in this case.

The issue is not about him saying he was "considering..." The issue is about the two words "funding secured". that translated to a lot of bulls and bears that this was a done deal. He then followed up those two words saying all that was needed was a shareholder vote. This implied the BoD had already approved the move. That turned out to be untrue. We later learned no plan had even been presented to the BoD.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

As has been pointed out repeatedly, funding secured does not mean signed documents.

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen this exact line of conversation, I'd be crushed by the immense gravity of a new nickel giant.

 

[scaesare]

... anyone who wasn't quite literally personally sucking Elon's balls.

 

[JRP3]

As has been pointed out repeatedly, funding secured does not mean signed documents. If Elon had discussions with groups who had the ability to fund it and was convinced they were willing to do so then it was an accurate statement. If funding was lined up then shareholder vote would have been the only potential unknown, hence the word "contingent".

The issue is not about him saying he was "considering..." The issue is about the two words "funding secured". that translated to a lot of bulls and bears that this was a done deal. He then followed up those two words saying all that was needed was a shareholder vote. This implied the BoD had already approved the move. That turned out to be untrue. We later learned no plan had even been presented to the BoD.

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen this exact line of conversation, I'd be crushed by the immense gravity of a new nickel giant.

Yet some people continue to ignore it...

 

[Artful Dodger]

The First Amendment protects Financial Reporters under "Freedom of the Press" the same way that "Freedom of Religion" protects predator Priests.

Do the Crime; Due the Time.

 

[Zaxxon]

We do, mostly. Check in the Market Politics thread, almost anything goes there, though mostly politics.

Exactly my point.

 

[tivoboy]

In the English language that I grew up with, the verb "am" is a reference to a singular person as the nominative.

Just by saying “nominative” leads me to think you had another mother tongue. German possibly?

 

[KarenRei]

Let's all just agree that that in modern English, the verb "to be" declines as:

I is...
You is...
He/She/It is...
We is...
They is...

(I has a good understanding of the language)

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Let's all just agree that that in modern English, the verb "to be" declines as:

I is...
You is...
He/She/It is...
We is...
They is...

(I has a good understanding of the language)

Because internet.