At this point, pretty much everything Elon Musk tweets is a big deal. One of his latest, though, has turned into a really big deal, to the point of triggering a couple of class action lawsuits against him and Tesla. The SEC wasn't too happy about it, either.
But it's Elon, right? And more specifically, it's Elon on Twitter. We've learned to expect these kinds of impulsive, reactionary outbursts.
Only this time, it doesn't seem to be either of those things.
Today, Musk published an explanation on Tesla's blog.
It's a measured, straightforward detailing of his plan to take Tesla private, full of seemingly reasonable statements, like the following:
" ... it wouldn't be right to share information about going private with just our largest investors without sharing the same information with all investors at the same time."
It sounds almost too straightforward, coming from someone like Musk. Some people aren't buying it. Fair enough, but the numbers do have their own story to tell.
Here's Why It's Ingenious
Musk's rationale isn't groundless at all. In his mind, Tesla currently has to operate with a short-term approach. To an extent, that's true of all publicly traded companies, but let's just say, it's not the easiest way to manage the brainchild of an entrepreneur with as expansive a vision as the 21st century has seen so far.
By contrast, Musk hopes that taking the company private will allow Tesla to concentrate on its "long-term mission."
It has seemed in recent times as if Musk's erratic behavior (particularly on Twitter) could eventually undermine -- even fatally -- the prospects of Tesla's perceived long-term success. Is going private a preemptive strike by Musk against his own volatility?
If so, it might be one of the most incredibly strategic moves we've seen from him of late -- and certainly, the kind of calculated-risk taking that past business giants have used to cement their leadership legacies.
There's really no telling what is in Tesla's future, public or private.
What we do know is that this is the sort of unexpected-yet-potentially-genius-level tactic that has helped Musk get to where he is now. For better or worse, it's Musk at his optimal -- and the antithesis of his sometimes confounding, sometimes cringe-worthy Twitter behavior (that, I will obviously continue to follow).
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