In BAD BOY, I suggested that Elon Musk was Wall Street’s favorite whipping boy because they consistently make money off of Tesla stock, because it consistently goes up and down (with the help of negative press). I’m not making this up.
Elon Musk took his infamous toke on Sept. 6 and lo! – the market reacted.
Now Elon’s smoking dope and dropping the “p” word in reference to Vernon Unsworth, Thai-cave rescuer.
Oh, and don’t forget how his shareholders had to “talk him out” of taking Tesla private. “Please Elon, don’t. Don’t break the money machine.” Vernon didn’t really mean what he said about your kid-sized submarine.
I don’t know if Elon’s current public image crisis is real, or a carefully planned news cycle, or perhaps a little of both. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in his shoes. But the truly troubling press isn’t about Elon’s personality issues.
It’s about Tesla’s alleged mistreatment of employees and supposed heavy-handed efforts to block unionization.
If true, this seems far more unsettling than Elon taking a toke on a reefer. In an article in the GUARDIAN by Julia Carrie Wong, production worker Richard Ortiz is quoted as saying “Everything feels like the future but us.” Wong also relates Mr. Musk’s POV: “It’s just a question of how much money we lose. And how do we survive? How do we not die and have everyone lose their jobs?” It’s an excellent article, which you can read HERE.
With everyone from Forbes to Neil DeGrasse Tyson coming to Musk’s defence, it seems that the billionaire bad boy might have done it again. Unintentionally or not, Elon’s elan keeps the money machine humming along.*
*Ironic, that as a company, Tesla loses money to the tune of $717.5 million a quarter (most recent report), but investors continue to ride the ups and downs and predictably make millions. (Unproven conjecture? Maybe….)
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