I was driving to the store a few hours ago after posting that comment and wondered what I was thinking. Of COURSE he'll take it private. And I just read elsewhere that doing so is his stated intention. Sometimes I wonder where my head is at... The next issue is gonna be whether the Fed (Democrats) will get in his way.
I was thinking the same thing, Yvonne. The premium is so great that no shareholder would vote against it. This is gonna get interesting. Twitter is a huge propaganda machine for the Left. They are not gonna let it go without a fight.
It appears that perhaps his "Plan B" is to leave the stock suddenly and crash the value. Apparently some Saudi Prince (who also was responsible for Dorsey's departure) is now the second-largest stockholder and is the one most responsible for Twitters' stand on censorship. The Saudi is trying to block the acquisition.
Yep, he could crash the price, generate shareholder lawsuits against the board members for not looking after the welfare of the investors, and Musk could then perhaps buy the company at a greatly-reduced price. This is the stuff of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
I wonder how many Tesla owners will be selling their vehicles now that Musk is willing to invest large sums of money to restore online free speech? Many praise him as an environmentalist and lover of "green," but the rockets he launches burn extreme amounts of fossil fuels. I have friends in California who brag about living off the electric grid and own a Tesla and have a natural gas-powered whole house generator to charge it. Their solar cells, batteries, and inverter struggle to keep the house in electricity, and on summer nights when the AC is used, their generator runs continually. Interesting that they oppose fossil fuel pipelines.
Green? Right and when the batteries go bad in their Tesla and home there still isn’t a sure way to recycle or dispose of them. So far as the greenies figuring out that they’re still using fossil fuels is the same as them telling everyone to quit killing chickens and to buy our meat from the grocery store. Clueless.
You can bet Musk has foreseen every possibly. He is a visionary after all. There is Space X, Tesla and now this. It will be interesting.
The hand-wringing by reporters of media outlets owned by billionaires over the downsides of a social media company being owned by a billionaire is so stupid it's not even amusing.
I don’t know what happened, but I remember reading articles about Tesla having re-charging stations all across the country, enough that a person could drive completely cross-country with an electric vehicle. What he was proposing at that time was that the charging stations would have solar panels, so it would not need to use any kind of electricity or other fuel to charge up the batteries when people stopped. I remember it was also discussed that a person could use solar panels on their home to charge up an electric car’s battery. Overall, I am in favor of using as much free energy as possible, but I do not think that we are in a position for everyone to just start driving a Tesla (even assuming it was affordable). However, my daughter has a hybrid car, as does my oldest son, and they are both very happy with them. When they are driving with gasoline, it can charge up the battery, and using both types of energy gives them great fuel mileage, and lots of flexibility.
A friend works for a non-profit housing assistance entity, and she drives all over these rural counties. She owns a Prius and loves it. I forget what kind of mileage she gets, but I recall it being impressive. I don't know what kind of long-term ownership costs (if any) she suffers. The larger the installed base of solar powered homes/cars/businesses/whatever, the greater the incentive for research into improved storage technology (whatever form that may take), so for that reason, more people owning these cars is a good thing. There are lots of applications for such technology beyond cars & homes. Musk is obviously heavily involved in this aspect of the business. Tesla is building their own battery factory.
I would have everything electric if it was practical and efficient. I wouldn't do it because I thought I was saving the environment (because I know better), but just because I love electricity. I designed an electric vehicle many years ago before we had the computer technology to make it happen. Each wheel would have a direct drive motor installed on each wheel individually. This would eliminate any need for drive shafts or axles or transmissions. The vehicle would be semi-self-charging due to my invention of using wind power to charge the battery while in motion. The fault with using a turbine that would be driven by the wind as the vehicle travels is the power demand to create the extra energy to push the vehicle forward. I even experimented with a cone ram idea that tapered from 3 feet at the front grill to 6" into a cylinder where a long multibladed turbine turned a magnetic generator. This could be made semi-efficient, but still, the power taken to overcome the head-on resistance makes for inefficiency. So, boys and girls, I hope you are all sitting down because I am revealing my idea that I call the Faez flux friction supercharger. First, imagine my car with independent computer-operated motors on all wheels and a highly efficient battery pack that has an aerodynamic design allowing for minimal resistance and creating great wind forces over the hood and top. That friction is already there so my idea is to install under the hood and top flux friction generators that use the friction of the wind over the metal and convert it into electricity that will charge the battery at high efficiency because it is produced without putting any strain on the power to push the vehicle forward. It would be produced any time day or night the car was in motion. So around town, it wouldn't have the impact that it would on the open road. Imagine a 1000-mile road trip in the Faez supersport without any battery charge. Unfortunately, no convertible will be available. Years ago I experimented with this design in my garage and I blew wind from my leafblower over a sloped piece of steel with my very flat and lightweight static flux generator installed underneath and it did show substantial electrical current. I didn't and don't have the resources to develop it into what it would take to make this dream car.
I believe the charging stations exist, as I have seen reports of trips across the country in a Tesla with few problems. The problems encountered were such things as very bad "mileage during the winter in extreme cold temperatures, and arriving at the only charging station within a hundred miles only to find it vandalized and not functional. Hybrid cars are another issue, as they are not a prisoner of the charging station and are less concerned with cold--or extremely hot--temperatures. Refilling the tank takes less time than recharging the battery bank and can recharge the batteries as they go. I think a plug-in hybrid is the bridge to the future, although you do still have battery disposal issues to deal with.
According to JP, the Left hates Musk because he is an African-American who doesn't comply with their instructions.
I was trying to find a way to work that into the conversation. Nice 3rd party attribution. >AND he's a draft dodger. >AND he's on the forefront of green technology. >AND he tried to name one of his kids "X Æ A-12," but since some of the characters do not appear in the English alphabet, it violated California regs. So the kid got a more traditional name: X AE A-XII Musk. (All Zappa could come up with was "Moon" and "Dweezil.") I mean, the guy punches most of the Leftist buttons. Man, that's a tough crowd.
It takes about four hours to charge my cellphone up to a full charge by solar, so I wonder how long these charging stops will be. Consider also, that state and federal taxing agencies are not going to let go of charging you for driving. Once enough people have moved to electric cars, you'll be taxed on your mileage as well. I think some states are already doing that.