Tesla plunges amid exec departures, Musk's pot smoking

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Tesla shares fell 9 percent Friday as the resignation of its chief accounting officer after just a month at work spooked investors amid another social media storm around billionaire chief executive Elon Musk.

The company, hurt in the past month by Musk's high-profile U-turn on a deal to take it private, said Chief Accounting Officer Dave Morton had resigned, citing discomfort with the level of public attention and pace of work.

That followed a twitter storm overnight about Musk smoking marijuana and drinking whisky in a 2-1/2-hour live web show with comedian Joe Rogan.

Bloomberg also reported Tesla's Chief People Officer Gaby Toledano was to leave the company just over a year after joining.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/tesla-plunges-amid-exec-departures-musks-pot-smoking/ar-BBMZQgg?li=BBnbfcL

So the whiskey was fine. Just lay off the reefer.

[MineralMan]

1. Where are Tesla owners going to get parts when the company

shuts down and Musk moves to Tahiti?

[tinrobot]

3. From the major auto manufacturer who buys them out.

Tesla has a good brand, good technology, and very loyal customers. That's worth something in the auto business.

Tesla will either succeed or get bought. I doubt they will go away completely.

[Blue_true]

5. Did anyone buy out DeLorean?

Luxury brands have been working on their own EV. Why would they take on an unknown. My guess is they do nothing, let Tesla.

[tinrobot]

7. They only made 9000 DeLoreans, so not in 1984. Since then, however, yes - it has been bought.

They do service and are supposedly back in production.

https://www.delorean.com/coming-soon.htm

Just shows you the power of a high profile brand.

Tesla certainly has a high-profile brand as well. They also have few hundred thousand vehicles sold, some valuable patents, a big battery factory, an established fast charging network, and lots of customers who might need service.

That's way more assets than DeLorean ever had. I'm sure someone will buy them if they stumble.

[hunter]

11. The DeLorean has a 2.85L Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 drivetrain...

... and a chassis design derived from the Lotus Esprit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_DMC-12

On the spectrum between kit car and mass production the DeLorean is somewhere between a Bradley GT and a Porsche 356.





Underneath the stainless steel skin the DeLorean was just another car, just as the Bradley GT was a Volkswagen.

The Tesla Model 3 has an thoroughly innovative drive train -- from the reluctance motors, to the electronic power control systems, to the battery packs. Even without Musk, Tesla would still be a valuable automotive property, with technology applicable to all electric automobiles.

I'm not a car enthusiast, I drive $800 cars that I repair myself, and if someone gave me a Tesla I'd give it away like a hot potato to someone who cared, nevertheless I do find the technology intriguing and not the sort of thing major auto makers or China would "do nothing" with if the price was right.

[Blue_true]

14. Mercedes just introduced it's first EV to rival Tesla.

Now that a heavyweight is in the ring, let's she where things go from here. BMW has an EV in the works, should be out in 2019. What all that means is those companies have sunk millions into enternal R&D, they have designs that they believe are manufacturable in very large numbers. My money would be on them to win the fight.

Tesla's one trump card is that the EV market should grow exponentially, so even as Tesla loses market share, it should continue to grow in volume unless the heavies knock all the legs from under it.

[hunter]

16. Mercedes tore down a few Tesla model 3 cars they bought on the gray market.

Apparently they were not happy.

The Model 3 has potentially lower manufacturing costs than the more conventional Mercedes design.

Most importantly, Mercedes uses three times as much cobalt per car than the Tesla 3.

Ideally cars wouldn't use any cobalt because much of it is mined by slaves and children.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-25/cobalt-child-labour-smartphone-batteries-congo/10031330

Personally, I was hoping the automobile age would be coming to a close by now, most people choosing to live in green, pedestrian friendly cities having excellent electric public transportation systems. Automobile culture has a huge environmental footprint.

My wife and I, by some planning and greater good fortune, have managed to avoid the car commuter lifestyle since the mid-eighties.

We were Los Angeles commuters when we met. I deeply resented the eight hours a week I wasted in stop-and-go traffic. Sitting in a
Tesla or Mercedes wouldn't have made me any happier.

[Blue_true]

17. I like commuter train or transit train (within urban cores) wherever I am around it.

Unfortunately I live in Florida, a car state with poorly though out commuter public transit or poorly run transit. But NYC, Boston, Chicago are great, even with some issues in each place.

[joshcryer]

18. They have 500k people in that city mining colbalt.

It is utterly tragic what is going on there, and pretty much all of civilization's high tech relies on it.

CBS News did a good story on it: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-toll-of-the-cobalt-mining-industry-congo/

BTW that kid they interviewed got free from the mine: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cobalt-mining-investigation-child-labor-update-miner-ziki-goes-to-school/

[Quemado]

4. If Tesla goes out of business, somebody will buy the company

Tesla is a very valuable brand, despite the company's profitability, or lack thereof.

Tesla Model 3 outsells entire BMW car lineup in August 2018: https://www.autoblog.com/2018/09/06/tesla-model-3-outsells-entire-bmw-car-lineup/

Tesla's market cap is almost $45 billion.

As of July 18, 2018, Tesla had 420,000 buyers on the waiting list for the Model 3, a car that starts at $35K: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/18/patience-running-thin-as-tesla-model-3-orders-go-unfulfilled/

If Tesla folded, or went bankrupt, or whatever, most likely Apple would buy Tesla.

Apple has a $1 trillion market capitalization. Apple could easily buy Tesla.

If Tim Cook agrees with the Tesla board that the company will be worth $650 billion in a decade, then buying Tesla now would be a staggering bargain.

Why Apple should buy Tesla: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-apple-should-buy-tesla-2018-1

[honest.abe]

2. Musk appears to be losing it.

Sad situation.

[Blue_true]

6. I thought the same. His behavior has been strange.

One of the toughest things is to be a one horse, dominant business person. Musk runs the corporate Tesla as if it is a small sole proprietor business, it isn't. I learned a hard lesson from a past business failure, hire clearheaded, ethical and competent people and delegate some important responsibility to them and trust them. An owner should monitor performance to plans and step in only if people are not performing.

I heard about Musk troubleshooting problems on the factory floor, where are his plant manager, head of engineering, manufacturing manager? If those people are not performing their jobs, he need to fire them and find someone else. But if he is butting in incessantly when no company principles have been violated, he is the problem.

[greytdemocrat]

10. Next

He'll show up driving an old VW Beetle...

[pennylane100]

8. Why does he keep insulting the man that led the rescue of those Thailand boys trapped in a cave.

He has called him a pedophile several times in the press. I hope the guy sues him before he goes broke. What is obsession with pedophilia.

[JI7]

13. becsuse he was dismissive of Musk's attempt to save the boys

with something he had built.

[SamKnause]

9. Oh the horror.

He was smoking cannabis legally.

[UTUSN]

12. So whoever this dude is went to Wharton?!1

[MrsCoffee]

15. Lol, here in San Francisco this shocks no one.

The stocks will pick back up like they always do.

I wish more CEO's would do this, lol.