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Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges: Musk to Step Down as Tesla’s Chairman; Tesla to Appoint Additional Independent Directors; Tesla and Musk Agree to Pay $20 million each in Penalties
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- SEC.gov | Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges; Tesla Charged With and Resolves Securities Law Charge
I hope this will make companies (and the government) start to think twice about having twitter or other social media be official sources for information instead of actual press releases.
This is definitely something that will be on their minds.
Well that was an expensive tweet, and an expensive way to impress a girlfriend. Twitter has been a net negative on Elon's life; he should really have his staffers delete the app from his phone.
I believe part of the settlement is that he will only be able to tweet by legal proxy from now on.
Also, twitter is a negative in general, very little good has ever come out of that website since its founding.
Twitter and other sites are addicting. Usually they will only provide a time-waster and nothing else if you're just looking at your home feed.
I don't think that Twitter is a net positive on anyone's life. The research that is popping up all the time suggests that social media is bad for your mental health.
Social media is a tool. It can be beneficial or detrimental. It depends on how you're using it.
My only hope right now is that it won't damage SpaceX.
I'm actually hoping this is a positive for Tesla, SpaceX, and Elon himself.
For Musk's sake, I hope this is a bit of a wake-up call. He has clearly not been well, and has been working beyond his limits. The whole toxic, work-yourself-to-death, startup culture should probably take note. Sprints are one thing -- hell, I'd even argue it's good for you to bust your ass and push yourself from time to time... But it isn't sustainable, and attempting to keep that going for too long can be disastrous for mental and physical well-being.
In the short-term, Tesla's stock price is likely to take a bit of a hit, and I imagine we'll hear a fair amount of smugness from shorts and those betting on Tesla's volatility. If they can weather that, they'll hopefully come out the other side with some improved corporate governance and a bit more stability, so the question becomes if that is enough to attract some more risk-averse investors who may not have seen Tesla as a good fit. If they can do that, I could see this being exactly the change Tesla needs in order to really scale. It is worth noting that Musk will remain CEO, which may assuage some of the investors who are really just there for him. I think that also means getting a solid COO in place is vital to help relieve some pressure.
On the SpaceX side, I get the impression a lot more work has been done on continuity planning, and I recall Musk saying something about Shotwell being all-in on the mission of making humanity a multi-planetary species. SpaceX is also privately held, profitable, and the clear market leader, all things which should reduce any potential impact if Musk decides to step away for a little bit to get his shit together. This whole situation could also just mean there's more time to focus on SpaceX and BFR. My big concern with SpaceX is that it might be used to prop up Tesla if things get really bad over there, and that could end up being a big gamble.
I honestly don't even think it's going to hurt Tesla in the long run.
Assuming Tesla has a long run, I think it's likely to help, 40m of Musk's cash to stop him tweeting is a steal at twice the price.
I'm less concerned about the 40m than I am about the effect on their stock price.
Hasn't tesla internally wanted an independent board for a while anyway? You'd think this would bolster their reputation in the long run.