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He was trying to bankrupt the short-sellers, and he was doing it by lying: the price would soar, their options would be called, and they'd lose their shirts, al
by not2b 8y ago
He was trying to bankrupt the short-sellers, and he was doing it by lying: the price would soar, their options would be called, and they'd lose their shirts, all for a lie. When you're head of a public company, that's a crime. Not only will the SEC come after him, but the short sellers can probably sue him too. I have huge respect for his engineering ability, but he has messed up badly. He's overextended and it seems his conduct lately shows that he's melting down from overwork.
- dabockster 8y ago> He was trying to bankrupt the short-sellers Or he was trying to divest at artificially inflated prices caused by the hype. Both of these hypotheses are illegal under US stock law.
- maccam94 8y agoI don't think personal fortune is anywhere near as significant of a motivation for Musk as the public image of his companies or their success. I have no doubt that he let negative headlines get under his skin, and that he wanted to fight back.
- hdieirbeopwhd 8y agoIf he was angered by the haters, then - while tanking a couple near term shorts would serve that goal - the best most final and bold way to get back at them would be to take the company private (thereby depriving them of the opportunity to short) and succeeding (thus proving them wrong and depriving them of the opportunity to later bandwagon). Ie he meant what he said about his intentions & funding.
- maccam94 8y agoI think he also really wanted to do that, but I think he couldn't wait to announce it with a more concrete deal in hand because of the reasons I outlined above.
- peteey 8y agoThe law says a lot of things. I'm ok with short sellers losing their shirts regardless.
- rjdagost 8y agoA lot of longs loaded up on Tesla shares because they believed his "funding secured" tweet. Are you OK with them losing their shirts, too? Because many of them did.
- manicdee 8y agoI didn’t load up on Tesla shares when Elon tweeted about Ambien, self driving advancements, or software updates coming any day now, so why would I take him seriously about going private? The route for going private was to stop trading the shares, meaning I would never make good on that profit. Because ceasing trading is what going private means: I no longer hold stock at $420/share, I hold stock in Tesla which I might be able to sell to someone some day for some as yet unspecified amount.
- Dylan16807 8y ago"long" is a misleading label for someone buying for the purpose of being immediately bought out. Also someone that bought stock in that period would have lost something like 355->320 which is only 10%. If someone leveraged up to take advantage of a short-term pricing condition then they get vastly reduced sympathy no matter which direction their position was.
- sokoloff 8y ago"long" in this case is a direction (net owner of shares), not a duration.
- Dylan16807 8y agoI know that. You're not really addressing my point...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mhermher 8y agoThe longs who bought at the sub-420 peak can also sue.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8y agoAssuming they don't understand "am considering".
- andys627 8y ago> He was trying to bankrupt the short-sellers, and he was doing it by lying I'm out of the loop - can you point me to some proof of this?
- spookthesunset 8y agoUh, it is pretty much all over the news, man. Unless you are living under a rock...
- manicdee 8y agoProof, not speculation or propaganda.
- village-idiot 8y agoThe actual complaint includes a few tweets by Musk warning shorts to get out within a specific timeframe.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8y agoSo they were warned of possible actions that might cost them, like going private. Damn if you do, damn if you don't.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- village-idiot 8y agoYeah, but he wasn’t actually going private. He did not follow any procedure to do that (casual talks without firm agreements don’t count). What it does do is establish a plausible motive for stock manipulation, which is a problem for a jury trial.
- AlexandrB 8y ago> He's overextended and it seems his conduct lately shows that he's melting down from overwork. I agree completely. Elon Musk is a remarkable person, but he's still human. He's ignoring the science around performance, mental health, and the need for rest at his own peril. Edit: It's also an alarming sign that Elon Musk has not been able to solve this problem by finding people whose judgement he trusts to take on some of his responsibilities. Even Steve Jobs, someone who had a reportedly huge ego, was able to build a team he could entrust his legacy to.