4 ms·

Tesla Receives Subpoena Over Musk's Take-Private Tweet

28 points by petethomas 8y ago

dunpeal 8y ago
Musk's "funding secured" tweet was incredibly irresponsible. Subsequent elaborations by Musk himself showed he had, at most, an initial expression of interest. The tweet seems, at best, to be an impulsive, reckless, perplexing action. At worst, it's an emotional attempt to fend off, possibly even directly harm his many critics and short-sellers. This doesn't look good for him. This is the key part that makes it serious: > The subpoenas indicate senior SEC officials have authorized a formal investigation of the company, a step up from the initial inquiries the regulator made to Tesla last week. The SEC opens formal investigations when it thinks a violation of law has occurred and that a probe is justified given the nature of the suspected misconduct and the potential harm to investors. Unless Elon can suddenly show he had credible funding secured - contrary to the representation in his own blog post of last week - this looks like a very strong case for the SEC. Besides the SEC, which is a criminal investigation, there are also civil lawsuits filed in this case - three of them so far: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-lawsuit-alleging-elon-musk-manipulated-stock-price-2018-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-lawsuit-a...
- _bxg1 8y ago
  He seems to have been on a mild downward spiral for the past year or so, presumably under the pressure of the Model 3's stumbling launch. He's gotten more impulsive.
TAForObvReasons 8y ago
dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810
_bxg1 8y ago
https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4/tumblr_np1v2cThaA1tdihcbo1_400.gif https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4...
asdfman123 8y ago
Hot take: public figures and business leaders should find a way to communicate to the public without embarrassing themselves or endangering their own interests. I have a novel idea. How about they hire people really good at tweeting and communications, so that they don't let their ego get in the way of their own company? They could call these people "People Really Good At Tweeting" (PRGT). Or maybe just shorten the acronym to "PR." PR people should do the Tweeting and the egomaniacs should stay out of it.
jacquesm 8y ago
Musk has used social media to good effect, but he has also scored some terrible own goals (the bankruptcy joke and this one). I really don't understand why he can't curb his tendency to shoot from the hip like this, we're talking billions of investment and that requires a slightly more mature attitude.

28 points by petethomas 8y ago

Musk's "funding secured" tweet was incredibly irresponsible. Subsequent elaborations by Musk himself showed he had, at most, an initial expression of interest. The tweet seems, at best, to be an impulsive, reckless, perplexing action. At worst, it's an emotional attempt to fend off, possibly even directly harm his many critics and short-sellers. This doesn't look good for him. This is the key part that makes it serious: > The subpoenas indicate senior SEC officials have authorized a formal investigation of the company, a step up from the initial inquiries the regulator made to Tesla last week. The SEC opens formal investigations when it thinks a violation of law has occurred and that a probe is justified given the nature of the suspected misconduct and the potential harm to investors. Unless Elon can suddenly show he had credible funding secured - contrary to the representation in his own blog post of last week - this looks like a very strong case for the SEC. Besides the SEC, which is a criminal investigation, there are also civil lawsuits filed in this case - three of them so far: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-lawsuit-alleging-elon-musk-manipulated-stock-price-2018-8 https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-lawsuit-a...

_bxg1 8y ago
He seems to have been on a mild downward spiral for the past year or so, presumably under the pressure of the Model 3's stumbling launch. He's gotten more impulsive.

TAForObvReasons 8y ago

dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810

_bxg1 8y ago

https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4/tumblr_np1v2cThaA1tdihcbo1_400.gif https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4...

asdfman123 8y ago

Hot take: public figures and business leaders should find a way to communicate to the public without embarrassing themselves or endangering their own interests. I have a novel idea. How about they hire people really good at tweeting and communications, so that they don't let their ego get in the way of their own company? They could call these people "People Really Good At Tweeting" (PRGT). Or maybe just shorten the acronym to "PR." PR people should do the Tweeting and the egomaniacs should stay out of it.

jacquesm 8y ago

Musk has used social media to good effect, but he has also scored some terrible own goals (the bankruptcy joke and this one). I really don't understand why he can't curb his tendency to shoot from the hip like this, we're talking billions of investment and that requires a slightly more mature attitude.