TSLA Market Action: 2018 Investor Roundtable

[jhm]

Giving up chairmanship (not CEO position) for two years does not seem such a big deal.
Assigning an ex sec lawyer as a chairman figure head and then bring
In two more symbolic figures would not seem such a huge sacrifice.
Any thoughts about that?

Yeah, I don't see that as too big of a deal, but I'd want more than just "figure heads" on the board. Would want people with very good industry experience that can actually help guide the company to realize its full potential. That is why I like someone like Jigar Shah.

Jigar Shah - Wikipedia. Shah has got strong entrepreneurial drive and experience. He was the CEO of SunEdison, perhaps the most ambitious clean tech company aside from Tesla. They got into serious financial trouble, and Shah had to leave as CEO. This might seem to disqualify him in some people's mind, but to my thinking this failure in the face of extreme entrepreneurial ambition is extraordinarily valuable experience. I'm confident that Shah has learned lessons that could not be learned otherwise. So I think he would still push Tesla to be a super fast growing company, but would help it avoid the same missteps that brought SunEdison down.

 

[azaz]

Musk’s ex lawyer was ex commissioner of the SEC yet Musk disagrees with his approach and replaced him. Classic giant ego Elon.

Musk really has his head in the sand here.

Charles Gasparino on Twitter

“SCOOP: @elonmusk unhappy w lawyers sought more aggressive atty in SEC fight; Chris Clark used ties to Bay-area legal community & successful defense of @mcuban to snare Musk; Musk rejected “very fair” SEC settlement: Time limited CEO ban for 2 years-sources @FoxBusiness more now”.

FWIW most outlets have reported that it was a 2 year Chairman ban, not CEO. IMO a CEO ban would never have been acceptable to Elon and it’s likely it was chairman considering they had preliminarily agreed.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

The lawsuit makes the case that Elon made a lot of promises over twitter that he should have known to be difficult to keep (and therefore being reckless). For example that retail investors could continue to invest.

He never promised retail investors could continue to invest if they went private. He stated that was his hope and then said he wouldn’t force shareholders to sell “in any case”. He then followed through on that by, once finding definitively that there was no way to keep all investors on board, removing the proposal to go private. The SEC’s statement makes it clear he was serious on that note and had tasked people with figuring out a way to make it work, before sending the initial tweet.

 

[AndyH]

If they can become the dominant player in EVs and greatly expand general tech offerings it is possible I suppose. Or I'll lose half my investment and VW will buy them at $150 a share.

That realm of possibility can really kick you in the... Ouch!

 

[mongo]

Musk’s ex lawyer was ex commissioner of the SEC yet Musk disagrees with his approach and replaced him. Classic giant ego Elon.

Musk really has his head in the sand here.

Charles Gasparino on Twitter

“SCOOP: @elonmusk unhappy w lawyers sought more aggressive atty in SEC fight; Chris Clark used ties to Bay-area legal community & successful defense of @mcuban to snare Musk; Musk rejected “very fair” SEC settlement: Time limited CEO ban for 2 years-sources @FoxBusiness more now”.

FWIW most outlets have reported that it was a 2 year Chairman ban, not CEO. IMO a CEO ban would never have been acceptable to Elon and it’s likely it was chairman considering they had preliminarily agreed.

Yeah, a CEO ban given his compensation package and the pending SP/ profit inflection point would not be popular...

For vesting to occur when the milestones are met, Elon must remain as Tesla’s CEO or serve as both Executive Chairman and Chief Product Officer, in each case with all leadership ultimately reporting to him.

 

[ZsoZso]

We knew and discussed that Shorts' "last best hope" was removal of Elon from the helm of Tesla, e.g. see my post (from 9 days ago) quoted below.

Exactly! Now that production hell is over, Model 3 is shipping in numbers that keeps breaking all records, they know Tesla will report profitable quarters, so their only hope to break the company is to get rid of Musk. They also know that there are a lot of longs who believe in his vision and that makes the company valuable. Without him Tesla would indeed become "just another car company" and would be valued based on sales and revenue, i.e. much lower than today. So that is the last best hope of the shorts to get EM removed from leadership. Do they have enough power to make that happen ? I doubt it. Talk in the media is cheap (literally! fully paid for by big Oil and big Auto). But getting him removed would need convincing the majority of the investors, which would take a lot more than some useful idiot talking heads.

What is shocking for me, is that their influence goes much further than just the media and they managed to get the SEC to do their bidding by suing Elon. Clearly, the SEC lawsuit is pushing the short agenda (anti-investor) and not representing the interest of the shareholders or investors.

While I believe the case has no merit, what I fear is what's next ? How far and how dirty the shorts are willing to go ? Are they going to buy the judge and the jury ? What if that fails too ? Are they going to hire an assassin to take out Elon ?

 

[SW2Fiddler]

I find these truths to be self-evident:

• Shorts Ain't Investors.
• No Girdle Ever Cured A Pregnancy.

 

[ACA Man]

I sent Pamela Anderson a msg on her instagram to meet today at noon for some coffee and casual conversation. Wish us both luck.

I'll have my people to talk to her people for you.

 

[EVNow]

Musk’s ex lawyer was ex commissioner of the SEC yet Musk disagrees with his approach and replaced him.

Why do you think ex-commissioner's make good lawyers ? Would you hire Ajit Pai to fight a FCC case ?

 

[Tslynk67]

I'm guessing @emir-t meant $9,000 in shares, right? Not $2,400,000 (9000 x 270) in shares?!?!?

Yeah, who does he think he is, 007, or something?

 

[SpaceCash]

So that's about as much SP fallout as is gonna happen IMO. Until the next government-sanctioned short attack, but I think they really blew their wad here and can't do much else. I honestly think we have only positive events to look forward to moving forward.

 

[Nocturnal]

So that's about as much SP fallout as is gonna happen IMO. Until the next government-sanctioned short attack, but I think they really blew their wad here and can't do much else. I honestly think we have only positive events to look forward to moving forward.

I think the naysayers were shocked that the investing public didn't care about the Rogen interview. Great interview though, I intend to give it a full watch when I'm in Denver next month

 

[Foghat]

The 2 independent directors, approved by the SEC, was the deal killer. It puts Musk on a short leash, having to placate a board that could fire him at any time.

It’s all a charade and a shakedown.

This board has brought *tremendous* value to shareholders. Look at the entire course of this stock from IPO to today, with all the ups and downs, it still has appreciated significantly.

Even with Elon’s tweet, the stock has traded within its 52 week high and low, it has consistently traded at multi percent swings throughout its history, so to claim the tweet had done anything thing different then historic action is beyond laughable. Broader shareholder damages claim is non existent.

This is shakedown that won’t work. This is a hostile takeover attempt that will fail.

To even consider changing the board is a non starter. We investors have spoken *loudly* over the summer vote on this. Not going to happen.

The SEC is not a Tesla shareholder and should never force decisions that shareholders don’t want. The gumption of this chairman is staggering.

Elon stays. The board stays. Cars will fly off the production floor. Carry on.

 

[Toolsmack]

Any short borrow rate summaries available to anyone? I saw anecdotes that there were no shares to short after hours last night and I’m hoping more shares than ever transferred into strong holders hands today.

 

[justobuf]

I have 400+ shares i have accumulated over past few years so for now going to try to take my mjnd off of short term. My hope is this trial takes 2 years to play out. By then tesla is gearing up Semi and Y, selling tons of 3s, and self funding. At that point even if they do remove Elon Tesla is beyond needing him similar to Jobs and Apple. I think Elon is still critical today but everyday they become stronger. Hoping for a Q3 profit to stem this.

 

[TradingInvest]

Tesla achieving Amazons market cap by 4Q23. It's within the realm of possibility. Sign me up for a roadster too.

If a few things happen between now and 4Q23, then what you said could happen. For example, if Tesla achieves autonomous driving (and if other companies don't get it first). That would pave the way for Tesla Network... The market would see the value. Even though the potential upside is substantial, I would never use margin to gain more. What I do is hold shares, save cash, buy more when a great buying opportunity comes.

If in the process, Tesla has positive cashflow, at a point when they know autonomous is coming, they should definitely NOT talk about it, NOT demo it, they should just buyback shares. That would be the best for the shareholders and for the company's future success.

 

[CaliBear1]

You have my respect!
Elon is our William Wallace

Yes indeed. And he wants us to HOLD!

 

[S3XY]

Yeah I saw that. The court filing doesn't include fraud, but the press releases do. Which one counts there?

Elon should sue the SEC for the misleading tweet.

 

[Drax7]

A boad member with serious car manufacturing experience preferably
Japanese. The Ex CEO of Honda or Toyota might be good contributors
If available.

The SEC offered him a pretty palatable deal, though when he refused they went ballistic.
Interesting how they operate, though they did show their weak hand.
They must believe their case is weak and so thereafter exaggerated the charges.

Elon sensed it and doubled down.

 

[SpaceCash]

Any short borrow rate summaries available to anyone? I saw anecdotes that there were no shares to short after hours last night and I’m hoping more shares than ever transferred into strong holders hands today.

MM's and, frankly, the SEC, fear a squeeze. They should!