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> Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Elon Musk Arguably Steve Jobs is more deserving to be in this list than Musk who's never run a profitable company.

OJFord 6y ago
My yawning aside, Tesla turned a profit last year; hence its inclusion in the S&P500. It wasn't waiting to be big, it was waiting to profit, at which point it joined at #6.
- unityByFreedom 6y ago
  Enron was also highly ranked. Apple is a bigger success story, profitable from day one. Musk promises self driving year after year, and now even Waymo is moving away from that term in order to distinguish themselves from misnamed driver-assist technology like Tesla's [1]. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216848/waymo-change-self-driving-autonomous-language-tesla https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216848/waymo-change-self...
  - OJFord 6y ago
    Sure. But it's just some commenter's list of successful people, not Forbes' Top 5 Businessmen Ever or something.
    - unityByFreedom 6y ago
      No sweat. We're all in the same boat here
  - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
    > Apple is a bigger success story, profitable from day one. Except they'd be gone without the Microsoft investment. Profitable companies don't end up on the verge of failure.
    - unityByFreedom 6y ago
      That just makes Jobs all the more impressive since he was the one who patched things up with Microsoft. Both Gates and Jobs are on record saying to each other that the other's company made their own company better.
inglor_cz 6y ago
"Musk who's never run a profitable company." Isn't the profit of a private corp. like SpaceX an unknown variable? They do not have to publish any financials and they don't.
- unityByFreedom 6y ago
  Right, so we cannot assume it's profitable. It may or may not be. It may be that Musk uses a string of companies to shuttle money between, who knows. He did manage to convince shareholders to buy his cousins'/brother's company which ended up being a huge liability. It seems to have saved him from the public seeing one of his family's companies fail.
  - recursive 6y ago
    > Right, so we cannot assume it's profitable. It may or may not be. That makes sense, but can you assume it's not profitable?
    - unityByFreedom 6y ago
      The inverse doesn't work. Musk has not yet demonstrated he runs a profitable company. That's the bar which Jobs, Gates, and many other CEO's have shown which Musk has not yet shown.
      - recursive 6y ago
        You said he hasn't run a profitable company, not that he "hasn't demonstrated he's run a profitable company". He's definitely a different kind of CEO.
        unityByFreedom 6y ago
        He's a liar. Promises self driving every year. Not even close

OJFord 6y ago

My yawning aside, Tesla turned a profit last year; hence its inclusion in the S&P500. It wasn't waiting to be big, it was waiting to profit, at which point it joined at #6.

unityByFreedom 6y ago
Enron was also highly ranked. Apple is a bigger success story, profitable from day one. Musk promises self driving year after year, and now even Waymo is moving away from that term in order to distinguish themselves from misnamed driver-assist technology like Tesla's [1]. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216848/waymo-change-self-driving-autonomous-language-tesla https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216848/waymo-change-self...
- OJFord 6y ago
  Sure. But it's just some commenter's list of successful people, not Forbes' Top 5 Businessmen Ever or something.
  - unityByFreedom 6y ago
    No sweat. We're all in the same boat here
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  > Apple is a bigger success story, profitable from day one. Except they'd be gone without the Microsoft investment. Profitable companies don't end up on the verge of failure.
  - unityByFreedom 6y ago
    That just makes Jobs all the more impressive since he was the one who patched things up with Microsoft. Both Gates and Jobs are on record saying to each other that the other's company made their own company better.

inglor_cz 6y ago

"Musk who's never run a profitable company." Isn't the profit of a private corp. like SpaceX an unknown variable? They do not have to publish any financials and they don't.

unityByFreedom 6y ago
Right, so we cannot assume it's profitable. It may or may not be. It may be that Musk uses a string of companies to shuttle money between, who knows. He did manage to convince shareholders to buy his cousins'/brother's company which ended up being a huge liability. It seems to have saved him from the public seeing one of his family's companies fail.
- recursive 6y ago
  > Right, so we cannot assume it's profitable. It may or may not be. That makes sense, but can you assume it's not profitable?
  - unityByFreedom 6y ago
    The inverse doesn't work. Musk has not yet demonstrated he runs a profitable company. That's the bar which Jobs, Gates, and many other CEO's have shown which Musk has not yet shown.
    - recursive 6y ago
      You said he hasn't run a profitable company, not that he "hasn't demonstrated he's run a profitable company". He's definitely a different kind of CEO.
      - unityByFreedom 6y ago
        He's a liar. Promises self driving every year. Not even close