Elon Musk

[jlv]

Solar City was a questionable deal but it seems to be doing well now. The megapack concept for energy storage is revolutionizing the Utility industry. The Powerwall is so popular you can't buy it without a PV system to go with it.

Correction: Megapack and PowerWall were original products of Tesla that predate the acquisition of Solar City.

The Solar City deal was not good for Tesla, and still remains a negative. The reason they now force you to buy PV with the PowerWall is because the PowerWall remains a strong seller, and they are using that to push more PV. Back in 2015 when I installed PV, Solar City was the worst company to deal with... and Tesla Energy has kept that vibe.

If you want to dig into negatives at TSLA, look at the current status of the "gigafactory" in Buffalo, NY, which was supposed to be dedicated to producing PV panels and solar roof shingles. It has not lived up to the employment promises they gave in exchange for the tax incentives. IIRC, most of what ships from there is instead v3 SuperCharger equipment.

 

[SageBrush]

If you want to dig into negatives at TSLA, look at the current status of the "gigafactory" in Buffalo, NY,

Yep. PV and Buffalo are not shining lights.

I lived in Buffalo a couple of years. I would have told Musk to go elsewhere.

 

[johnlocke]

Musk has a "cult following" because he's done amazing things and made a lot of people rich.

About 74 million people follow Musk on Twitter. How many did he make 'rich' ? I'll guess that about 200E6 shares are retail, so on average ... about $2,500

Conclusion: there is a lot more going on in the cult than money. I know that I decided he was pretty darned awesome way before I ever bought a single share. Which is not to say that I do not appreciate TSLA.

The peanut gallery missed the obvious, and missed out. What can I say -- it sucks to be them.

It turns out that about 20% of Tesla's stock is owned by individual stockholders other than Musk. He owns about 21%. Call it about 250 billion dollars of stock in private hands, Call it 1000 shares per individual on average and you end up with 250,000 or so people with an average of nearly a million dollars each. I'd say that that's a lot of rich people. Distribution is all wrong of course but you get the idea.

You don't need to be a shareholder to benefit from Tesla. What about all the Tesla employees with good paying jobs or all the venders who supply Tesla with parts. The gigafactories also provide indirect benefits with support jobs related to the money those Tesla employees spend.

People follow Musk for much the the same reasons they follow actors, sports figures, or even politicians. Simply because they are fascinated by them. My wife is in love with all things British. I don't know why but she is. Many follow Musk because he has achieved so much and some follow him waiting for his downfall. I follow him because I think he is the greatest industrialist of our age. I don't really care whether he's part P.T. Barnum or the most innovative engineer of the century. He is a fascinating character to watch in either/both cases. By the way, he just gave away 5 billion to a charity the other day.

 

[SageBrush]

I follow him because I think he is the greatest industrialist of our age.

I agree, but I probably would not care had he not also taken upon himself to give the world a chance in its climate change challenge.

Musk has become an icon for those who both accept and reject climate change.

 

[danrjones]

I disagree - I don't want to see his downfall. I want him to:

1) For Tesla, Concentrate on the core Ideology of WHY Tesla exists - to move transportation (and energy) to a sustainable future. Invest in robots and self driving in the back, but remember WHY Tesla exists, and always under promise and over deliver. Not the other way around.

2) Have empathy for other human beings and stop going on twitter. No more twitter fights with politicians, calling cave divers Pedo's, and in general being an arrogant A$$. He's two steps away from being a Trump clone. Sorry, but its true. I just want him to stop. The only news we should hear about him is in regards to what his companies are doing.

 

[tomas47]

I agree, but I probably would not care had he not also taken upon himself to give the world a chance in its climate change challenge.

Please explain this as I do not follow what you refer to.

Can a person focused on colonizing a lifeless rock be committed to preserving this one?
His charitable contribution to world hunger makes no sense if you understand the fundamental problem of overpopulation causing the deteriorating conditions on this planet.

 

[user 24513]

Can a person focused on colonizing a lifeless rock be committed to preserving this one?
His charitable contribution to world hunger makes no sense if you understand the fundamental problem of overpopulation causing the deteriorating conditions on this planet.

No fan of Musk here but he has truly built and made popular a very efficient vehicle, expensive yes but how many reasonably well-to-do people have chosen the Tesla over, say, an Escalade or a BMW 7 series? that gives points in my book. And as far as contributing to end world hunger, these people did not choose to be poor or hungry and I for one consider it a decent way to spend ridiculous, outrageous, profits. Again, points in my book.

 

[jlv]

No more ... in general being an arrogant A$$.

Frankly, to a large degree, that is what Musk is.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I want to remind people that I don't have a hate crush on Musk. Ten years ago I liked the guy, although not with a capital "L." I used to play the 'Tesla Lottery' put on by the carbon tax group every year. Nothing has happened to me personally to make me dislike him (although I might like him more if I HAD won a Tesla ). The only reason that I dislike Elon Musk these days is that he has proven himself, through his words and many of his deeds, be be a dis-likeable man. The Humanitarian is in fact a Libertarian, and his charitable deeds seem more like personal PR than they do part of a coherent plan to help people live better lives in any way beyond selling them $50k+ EVs.

 

[Nubo]

Libertarianism and philanthropy aren't mutually exclusive traits. The libertarian just believes that philanthropy shouldn't be compulsory.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I want to remind people that I don't have a hate crush on Musk. Ten years ago I liked the guy, although not with a capital "L." I used to play the 'Tesla Lottery' put on by the carbon tax group every year. Nothing has happened to me personally to make me dislike him (although I might like him more if I HAD won a Tesla ). The only reason that I dislike Elon Musk these days is that he has proven himself, through his words and many of his deeds, be be a dis-likeable man. The Humanitarian is in fact a Libertarian, and his charitable deeds seem more like personal PR than they do part of a coherent plan to help people live better lives in any way beyond selling them $50k+ EVs.

Well said. Like is hardly a requirement for any leader. They all can't be like Barrack. I appreciate what he has done for the EV movement but he is truly an asshole. But he is also typical of many leaders lately. Social media has allowed the ugly to emerge from many leaders as they tend to react rather than defer to their press secretary or whoever for a comment. The beauty and the downfall of social media is reaction time.

The various scandals that now pop up so often, most don't even hear about them are just the tip of the iceberg in how most lead their lives. They are entitled and take full advantage. They do not have personalities to be admired. Talented? yes. Driven? obviously. But to equate their accomplishments as a reason to put them on a pedestal? I have to say, I have never really played that game.

 

[jlv]

and his charitable deeds seem more like personal PR

Quietly donating $6B last year doesn't seem like personal PR.

NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/business/elon-musk-tesla-charity-donation.html
( or https://archive.is/gRdiQ)
or
Forbes: https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Felizahaverstock%2F2022%2F02%2F15%2Felon-musk-reports-donating-57-billion-to-charity-but-there-is-no-trace-of-that-gift-yet%2F%3Fsh%3D62d7c75d2782


Personally, I don't like nor dislike him. He's definitely uncontrolled and borders on being not-a-nice-person because he's too flippant. Some of his endeavors (EVs, space flight) make amazing things happen.

Frankly, I'm most annoyed with him because of the v11 software update that made turning on the seat heaters a 2 step task.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Quietly donating $6B last year doesn't seem like personal PR.

It does when your every act is closely watched. An anonymous donation is the only quiet way for a billionaire to be humble.

 

[danrjones]

And now Elon has started posting and tweeting Meme's comparing Trudeau to Hitler...

(Backstory: It is about the stupid Trucker's protesting, which apparently Elon loves.)

 

[WetEV]

And now Elon has started posting and tweeting Meme's comparing Trudeau to Hitler...

(Backstory: It is about the stupid Trucker's protesting, which apparently Elon loves.)

Most of the protesters are not truckers.

I'm sure that Elon would love them. Three reasons:
Stokes his ego.
Hurts other automakers.
Nothing, but nothing must get in the way of Musk hitting the big $1USD Trillion net worth. So what if some menial workers have to die of Covid or some future pandemic, production and sales can't stop.

 

[OldManCan]

How did that saying go? People living in glass houses should not throw around rocks etc etc... Wish Musk would clean up his company of all racism and poor work conditions, pay issues before trying to shame a political leader who has undeniably more burden to carry than him at this point in time.

It doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum one is. Likening anyone to a person who is responsible for the genocide of > 6M human beings is not right in my books. This is not the first time it has happened in recent months and it should really stop. It goes to show the ignorance and stupidity of the person making these comparisons and posts.

 

[Nubo]

Well said. Like is hardly a requirement for any leader. They all can't be like Barrack. I appreciate what he has done for the EV movement but he is truly an asshole. ...

To quote the late Jack Rickard, "At the heart of any successful enterprise is an obsessive-compulsive, over-controlling, micro-managing tyrant usually referred to as 'the asshole'. And if you're not sure who that is in your organization, it's probably you."

I've seen it said that Musk has some form of Aspberger's and if so he does a sometimes impressive job of simulating normal interactions though the Tesla organization does seem to exhibit some autistic tendencies which may be a trickle-down thing. I think in this point of their development they're still benefiting from the "asshole effect", though at some point soon they will have to evolve to satisfy the expectations of the mass market. The further you move along the adoption curve, the less bullshit your customers are willing to put up with.

 

[WetEV]

Investors trust Musk because of his track record, and it is a track record that no other living industrialist comes close to matching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-FGwDDc-s8

 

[cwerdna]

Elon Musk decides not to join Twitter board, says CEO Parag Agrawal
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/11/elon-musk-decides-not-to-join-twitter-board-says-ceo-parag-agrawal.html

Elon Musk suggests Twitter changes, including turning SF headquarters into homeless shelter
https://abc7news.com/elon-musk-twitter-vote-homeless-community-sf-shelter/11734611/

Musk's latest tweets about Twitter, including posting polls asking his 81 million followers whether Twitter is "dying" and whether the company's San Francisco headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter "since no one shows up anyway," followed a tweet earlier in the week asking if he should add an edit button on the platform.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I think that they should add a "retract by Board" button to just his account.