4 ms·
VW is doing it [0] [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-results-2019/volkswagen-starts-shutting-down-production-in-europe-in-face-of-coronavirus-i
by lexs 7y ago
VW is doing it [0]
[0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-results-2019/volkswagen-starts-shutting-down-production-in-europe-in-face-of-coronavirus-idUSKBN2140OF https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-results-2019/v...
- stickfigure 7y agoVW is a much bigger company which can afford the slack. Tesla is a small upstart that's never turned a profit. From cold calculus it might be worth risking a few more lives to keep the concern going.
- dekhn 7y agothats not an argument for calling tesla an essential service.
- new_realist 7y agoTesla is a $100B, 17 year old company.
- bdcravens 7y agoIt was. The recent damage to the price puts it closer to $80B today.
- jsight 7y agoI'm not sure of your point here? Presumably Tesla's capital position is still significantly smaller than VW? I do not know this, though, as I am not as familiar with VW's capital structure. TBH, I'm more worried about what will happen with Ford or GM if they have even a short outage. GM has massive ongoing obligations and a relatively weak balance sheet, afaik.
- bdcravens 7y agoStrictly in terms of market cap (not the best metric, admittedly) Tesla is larger than VW. (both company's stocks have been devastated recently though)
- stickfigure 7y agoMarket cap is a psychological construct. It will not help you when you're already bleeding cash and your cash flow suddenly goes sharply negative. It's entirely possible that this calamity will kill off some very large companies (by any metric) that have been operating in the margin.
- cjhopman 7y agoSure, but it's a good argument against calling something a "small upstart".
- rurp 7y agoSo you think it's OK for a business to knowingly take actions that are likely to kill people, as long as they really need the money? Thank God most of modern society disagrees with you.
- stickfigure 7y agoI have bad news for you: Modern society not only allows business and individuals to take actions that will kill people, but it quantifies to what extent in dollar terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life Scroll down for a country-by-country breakdown. I personally don't pass judgement on it.