Photo: WSJ Video screenshot
As you may or may not know, Mr. Elon Musk is currently testifying in a lawsuit filed against him by a group of Tesla shareholders accusing the CEO of misleading the carmaker's board members into buying SolarCity back in 2016.
Musk owned a percentage of both companies at the time and one of the complaints in the lawsuit claims he purposefully hid the solar panel company's tricky financial situation from the rest of the board to facilitate the deal. Also, another potentially incriminating aspect is the fact that SolarCity was founded by two of Musk's cousins.
However, perhaps the most damning aspect is that Tesla's solar roof business never really picked up despite the fact Musk describing it as necessary for keeping the world climate in check. Well, perhaps the video you'll find at the bottom of this page (coincidentally or not posted today on Reddit by u/ughineedananon) might shed a bit of light on why the Tesla solar panel adoption is still reasonably low. In short, the energy production (for that particular case, at least) is 75% of what was promised, and the customer service is, well... at Tesla levels.
In the trial, Musk admitted that Tesla had to refocus all of its resources on getting the Model 3 to market, which meant the solar panels had to settle for the backseat. Then, he says, the pandemic kicked in. Obviously, as it's always the case with the Tesla CEO, he did kind of promise that Tesla Energy - the name of the solar panel branch - would soon get its turn in the limelight and receive the full backing of the company. No, not in two weeks, but over the coming quarters. However, the plaintiffs' attorney, Randall Baron, pointed out similar promises were made during a 2019 deposition for the same trial, and, needless to say, they never came true.
Musk's interactions with Baron led to a few juicy quotes, particularly the one where the Tesla CEO calls the attorney a "bad human being," but perhaps the most important quote of the day was the one where Musk revealed he had tried to renounce his position as Tesla CEO.
The "Technoking" said, quoted by Reuters, he had tried "very hard not to be the CEO of Tesla, but I have to or frankly, Tesla is going to die.” Considering the business model the company is built on, you have to agree with his assessment. His image is forever associated with Tesla's, and nobody could ever come out on that stage and make the kind of wild promises Musk makes without anyone in the attendance even batting an eye. Well, most of them are too busy cheering and clapping anyway.
The moment Elon Musk announces his departure as Tesla CEO, the company's stock value will collapse, and since Musk's almost entire wealth is concentrated in Tesla stock, he has added incentive to try and avoid that. At this point, we see only three options for him: he can continue to be CEO indefinitely, he can make Tesla a force in the industry that can sustain its value without his help, allowing him to step down, or he can bail out at any time by selling his stock before announcing his departure - though the latter would be pointless because everyone would know what was happening by that time.
For the moment, though, he might have to sell about $2 billion worth of it to pay back Tesla if the court rules against him in this ongoing trial. We should know the outcome in about two weeks, so stay tuned.
However, perhaps the most damning aspect is that Tesla's solar roof business never really picked up despite the fact Musk describing it as necessary for keeping the world climate in check. Well, perhaps the video you'll find at the bottom of this page (coincidentally or not posted today on Reddit by u/ughineedananon) might shed a bit of light on why the Tesla solar panel adoption is still reasonably low. In short, the energy production (for that particular case, at least) is 75% of what was promised, and the customer service is, well... at Tesla levels.
In the trial, Musk admitted that Tesla had to refocus all of its resources on getting the Model 3 to market, which meant the solar panels had to settle for the backseat. Then, he says, the pandemic kicked in. Obviously, as it's always the case with the Tesla CEO, he did kind of promise that Tesla Energy - the name of the solar panel branch - would soon get its turn in the limelight and receive the full backing of the company. No, not in two weeks, but over the coming quarters. However, the plaintiffs' attorney, Randall Baron, pointed out similar promises were made during a 2019 deposition for the same trial, and, needless to say, they never came true.
Musk's interactions with Baron led to a few juicy quotes, particularly the one where the Tesla CEO calls the attorney a "bad human being," but perhaps the most important quote of the day was the one where Musk revealed he had tried to renounce his position as Tesla CEO.
The "Technoking" said, quoted by Reuters, he had tried "very hard not to be the CEO of Tesla, but I have to or frankly, Tesla is going to die.” Considering the business model the company is built on, you have to agree with his assessment. His image is forever associated with Tesla's, and nobody could ever come out on that stage and make the kind of wild promises Musk makes without anyone in the attendance even batting an eye. Well, most of them are too busy cheering and clapping anyway.
The moment Elon Musk announces his departure as Tesla CEO, the company's stock value will collapse, and since Musk's almost entire wealth is concentrated in Tesla stock, he has added incentive to try and avoid that. At this point, we see only three options for him: he can continue to be CEO indefinitely, he can make Tesla a force in the industry that can sustain its value without his help, allowing him to step down, or he can bail out at any time by selling his stock before announcing his departure - though the latter would be pointless because everyone would know what was happening by that time.
For the moment, though, he might have to sell about $2 billion worth of it to pay back Tesla if the court rules against him in this ongoing trial. We should know the outcome in about two weeks, so stay tuned.
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