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Keep a few things in mind about Musk's prediction of profitability. First, he is talking about non-GAAP profitability for this year. He doesn't predict true G
by rjdagost 11y ago
Keep a few things in mind about Musk's prediction of profitability. First, he is talking about non-GAAP profitability for this year. He doesn't predict true GAAP profitability for a few more years, maybe by 2020. Second, he has blown many previous predictions about achieving profitability and being cash flow positive, so many investors are rightfully skeptical about this new prediction as well.
- aerovistae 11y agoYou are quite right, and this is by design. I believe all the evidence points to this not mattering any more than Amazon's profitability has mattered. Tesla has its eye on something bigger and longer term than narrow early quarterly profits. In the meantime, Elon is indeed saying whatever he has to to keep investors from losing their shit with impatience over a startup that's been working for over a decade without having transformed the world yet-- they've grown too accustomed to Dropbox's and Facebooks. If he let them speculate wildly without occasionally throwing them a bone, he would end up with a feedback cycle of bad press for no reason-- an analyst would downgrade Tesla for [some reason], a hundred articles would be written with titles like "Is this the end of Tesla?", and the cycle repeats. This is what he's keeping at bay while they prepare their grand slam.