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"The billionaire businessman who led the resurrection of the electric vehicle industry and the birth of the private spaceflight industry is an idiot." - interne

"The billionaire businessman who led the resurrection of the electric vehicle industry and the birth of the private spaceflight industry is an idiot." - internet commenter. Musk has proven himself to be a very savvy investor. And his operational track record is nearly unmatched. Particularly because it straddles so many different industries: internet 1.0 (Zip2), banking and payments (PayPal), manufacturing and transportation (Tesla), aerospace engineering and spaceflight (SpaceX). If there is anyone in the world who could pull this off, my money would be on him.

mbesto 5y ago
> If there is anyone in the world who could pull this off, my money would be on him. And since he's got so many projects on-going, you think he has all of the time in the world to pull this one off? Explain that ONE to me?
cma 5y ago
He had that whole fake solar shingle scam presentation thing to bail out his own cousins and self.
schoolornot 5y ago
At some point I stopped investing in companies and started investing in people. There's a small group of businessmen out there that have the Midas touch.
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  Would you care to share some of your other people you invest in? It seems like a good strategy in this day and age.
Jasper_ 5y ago
SolarCity was such a bad investment he had to hide the financials by stuffing it inside of Tesla
- blip54321 5y ago
  It's very hard for my explain, within my company, that "failure" isn't the opposite if "success." ... if you're not failing some of the time, you're not trying things ambitious enough ...
- sintaxi 5y ago
  Proven ability to mitigate failures.
- FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
  SolarCity was a worthwhile cause at least. He often says that money isn't his motivator and I believe him about that. And something may yet come of it.
Tepix 5y ago
Not selling the stock of his own companies makes him "a very savy investor"?
- next_xibalba 5y ago
  How did he "get" the stock of his own companies? Who allocated the capital within those companies? Is not Musk's time a considerably valuable investment unto itself? Also, reminder, he didn't found Tesla. He was one of its initial investors. We can split hairs and refine definitions until we exclude him from the category of successful investors, but, at a certain point, it's a little hard to believe. In any event, it is quite clear that Musk has no intention of being a silent investor. Rather, he's going to be an operator. And in that regard, he is nearly unparalleled.
ddoolin 5y ago
I know you're being snarky, but success as a hyper-capitalist is less and less a good thing to many people, and not really a sign of great intelligence (more psychopathy, if anything). His behavior is very often so incredibly childlike that it's hard to excuse on his business success. Even this! A share price based on $4.20; Really?! Again with that? He is clearly trolling and it's working because here everyone is talking about it.
- next_xibalba 5y ago
  I don't agree with your claims, but they are beside the point. His track record speaks for itself. I would certainly have far more confidence in Musk than the current leadership team. Musk is at least competent in software engineering, aerospace engineering, and finance. It is hard not to see that as a strong indicator of an intelligence well above average. People bend over backwards to look past the glaring facts about Musk that contradict their biases. Musk is hyper intelligent. Musk is one the most successful business people of all time.
  - 2fast4you 5y ago
    Why are you deifying him? He's not anymore special than the rest of us, he just has a lot of money.
    - dlivingston 5y ago
      It’s not a deification to recognize that the total upheaval and reinvention of three industries - automobiles and aerospace and finance - is something that very, very few people could do, even if they had luck and fortune going into it.
      - 2fast4you 5y ago
        Aerospace sure, but automobiles and finance? Musk just bought Tesla, and he was fired from PayPal because he wanted to replace all of their Unix infrastructure with Windows. I’m not saying he’s dumb, he’s clearly a smart guy, but I don’t think he’s anything special
archagon 5y ago
"Billionaires shouldn't be criticized unless you also happen to be a billionaire." -next_xibalba

mbesto 5y ago

> If there is anyone in the world who could pull this off, my money would be on him. And since he's got so many projects on-going, you think he has all of the time in the world to pull this one off? Explain that ONE to me?

cma 5y ago

He had that whole fake solar shingle scam presentation thing to bail out his own cousins and self.

schoolornot 5y ago

At some point I stopped investing in companies and started investing in people. There's a small group of businessmen out there that have the Midas touch.

SuoDuanDao 5y ago
Would you care to share some of your other people you invest in? It seems like a good strategy in this day and age.

Jasper_ 5y ago

SolarCity was such a bad investment he had to hide the financials by stuffing it inside of Tesla

blip54321 5y ago
It's very hard for my explain, within my company, that "failure" isn't the opposite if "success." ... if you're not failing some of the time, you're not trying things ambitious enough ...
sintaxi 5y ago
Proven ability to mitigate failures.
FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
SolarCity was a worthwhile cause at least. He often says that money isn't his motivator and I believe him about that. And something may yet come of it.

Tepix 5y ago

Not selling the stock of his own companies makes him "a very savy investor"?

next_xibalba 5y ago
How did he "get" the stock of his own companies? Who allocated the capital within those companies? Is not Musk's time a considerably valuable investment unto itself? Also, reminder, he didn't found Tesla. He was one of its initial investors. We can split hairs and refine definitions until we exclude him from the category of successful investors, but, at a certain point, it's a little hard to believe. In any event, it is quite clear that Musk has no intention of being a silent investor. Rather, he's going to be an operator. And in that regard, he is nearly unparalleled.

ddoolin 5y ago

I know you're being snarky, but success as a hyper-capitalist is less and less a good thing to many people, and not really a sign of great intelligence (more psychopathy, if anything). His behavior is very often so incredibly childlike that it's hard to excuse on his business success. Even this! A share price based on $4.20; Really?! Again with that? He is clearly trolling and it's working because here everyone is talking about it.

next_xibalba 5y ago
I don't agree with your claims, but they are beside the point. His track record speaks for itself. I would certainly have far more confidence in Musk than the current leadership team. Musk is at least competent in software engineering, aerospace engineering, and finance. It is hard not to see that as a strong indicator of an intelligence well above average. People bend over backwards to look past the glaring facts about Musk that contradict their biases. Musk is hyper intelligent. Musk is one the most successful business people of all time.
- 2fast4you 5y ago
  Why are you deifying him? He's not anymore special than the rest of us, he just has a lot of money.
  - dlivingston 5y ago
    It’s not a deification to recognize that the total upheaval and reinvention of three industries - automobiles and aerospace and finance - is something that very, very few people could do, even if they had luck and fortune going into it.
    - 2fast4you 5y ago
      Aerospace sure, but automobiles and finance? Musk just bought Tesla, and he was fired from PayPal because he wanted to replace all of their Unix infrastructure with Windows. I’m not saying he’s dumb, he’s clearly a smart guy, but I don’t think he’s anything special

archagon 5y ago

"Billionaires shouldn't be criticized unless you also happen to be a billionaire." -next_xibalba