Tesla's Near-Death Model 3
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A story about how Tesla and Elon Musk managed public perception during a critical financial period.
"I remember with Tesla there was a time when they had like 10 or 15 different CFOs. My friend told me this when I was reading stuff online about Tesla not being in good financial shape. He had this phrase 'follow the CFOs' - the CFOs know the health of the business. What you never want to see was what was happening with Tesla: a rotating door of CFOs coming in for 3 to 6 months and then leaving.
Later, Elon finally admitted it - they were 6 weeks away from the show being over for Tesla during the Model 3 production ramp. In a separate interview, when asked about Solyndra (a failed clean energy company), Elon said something revealing: 'What are they supposed to say? As soon as they admitted any weakness, the stock would tank and guarantee their demise. They have to say it's all good whether they are or aren't, because otherwise it will tank their stock and they will die for sure.'
That's when I realized you can't believe anything this guy says about how Tesla's doing if that's his mentality. That's why I sold my Tesla stock too early."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.