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258

It's Elon Musk's turn for a 'fork in the road' as Tesla faces Wall Street scrutiny (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It might be time for Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own fork in the road.

The electric carmaker is set to report quarterly earnings Tuesday afternoon that may say a lot about which direction Musk and the company he has ridden to immense wealth will go next.

The company will update investors on revenue, profit and other key figures after months of turmoil as Musk continues to dedicate a large portion of his time to the Trump administration’s attempt to radically remake the federal government, far away from his corporate responsibilities at Tesla, SpaceX and his other companies.

With Tesla’s stock and brand reputation getting pummeled — and with Trump’s tariff policy threatening to upend the automotive market, Tesla included — many Tesla investors have called on Musk to scale back or end his government work entirely and return his focus to business.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 72 points 10 months ago (3 children)

With Tesla’s stock and brand reputation getting pummeled ... many Tesla investors have called on Musk to scale back or end his government work entirely and return his focus to business

As long as he's associated with Tesla, even if he steps out of government work, the damage is done. Even if the board boots him as CEO, it's going to take a LOT of work, PR, outreach, and time to undo the stink Musk has left on the company.

[–] omgboom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Never forgive Tesla

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 10 months ago

Hey, now. Nikola Tesla did nothing wrong.

[+] Bezier@suppo.fi -11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Companies aren't sentient beings

[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tell that to Citizens United

[–] Bezier@suppo.fi 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

What a group of bozos. But that's not what I meant at all. I wouldn't hold a grudge against an inanimate object, or an imaginary constuct, regardless of if some malicious law defined them as people.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I do. I haven't been to an Exxon gas station in 35 years, nor a BP in 15, and I've never used a gas station flying a confederate flag. Fuck those imaginary constructs and anyone who flies their banners.

[–] Bezier@suppo.fi 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So no VW, no Mercedes, no Toyota, no Ford, and so on. Confederate flag still actively stands for some real garbage, so it doesn't count.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah well actually that's all true. Have never owned any of those and probably never will. I'm not sure who you're counting in and so on, but unless it includes GM and Chrysler it has turned out that way mainly by happy coincidence.

[–] Bezier@suppo.fi 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I started with whichever I can at least loosely link to ww2 atrocities of the top off my head. GM destroyed a lot of public transit, but there's probably better reasons that I just don't know.

[–] PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

better reasons

Yes, they wanted to sell busses, tires, petrol and everything else surrounding the products GM (and the co-conspirators) dealt in. So they bought up and dismantled functioning rail services and replaced them with bus lines. Greed was the reason at the expense of the American people. Again.

An American tale.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 months ago

I mean no company is innocent and the grudges I chose to hold are completely arbitrary. However one point you made was that the confederate flag is presently still a symbol of racism and slavery. Exxon and BP both fought hard to limit the damages they had to pay. Many people died without ever receiving compensation because their pockets were so deep that they could just wait out the survivors.

The fact that they are still in business and they have never fully compensated victims for their own willful negligence means that they represent an ongoing miscarriage of justice.

But mostly the arbitrary thing.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 10 months ago

What a group of bozos

You misspelled Bezos.

[–] Redfox8@mander.xyz 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They don't exist without them though, and it is sometimes necessary to make a point to all companies and their sentient rulers by e.g. boycotting them, forever.

[–] Bezier@suppo.fi 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah, I'd classify about everyone still at tesla a pos or worse. 30 years from now, maybe not.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 months ago

they're something much worse. they're a collection of sentient beings influencing the world without accountability because no single one of them is the responsible party

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They'll probably just retire the brand, slap on a new name and logo and keep business as usual and just have Muskrat in the background like some sort of evil wizard, like Saruman casting spells from his dark cave and collecting money

[–] Bezier@suppo.fi 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Boot musk
Stop all cyber bullshit that reeks of him
Redesign the cars and the brand

VW managed to transition from nazi image to hippies.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not just VW; lots of European brands (and some American!) have successfully managed to atone (or bury, depending on how charitable you feel) their actions before and during WWII.

If a company is older than a century, look at their history and see how many of them kinda pretend they didn't exist from 1930-1945.

[–] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Lots of good points being made, however, there's a point in time where it stops mattering entirely. Holding a company responsible for its acts during WW2 is no different than holding the current German govt responsible for the Holocaust. We are at the point where the company that exists today is run by people with zero (or very few) ties to the people who ran those companies during WW2.

As mentioned, VW is one such company. The VW that ran during WW2 was completely shredded. VW today only exists thanks to the British who decided to resurrect it.

[–] VolumetricShitCompressor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Saruman at least had charisma and was a badass. Musk is more of a Wormtongue type.

[–] TrenchcoatFullofBats@belfry.rip 5 points 10 months ago

Be the Ents you want to see in the world

burárum intensifies

[–] Zippygutterslug@lemmy.world 51 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Is Elon going to pretend he's not a nazi with a breeding cult when he "gets out of government?" Big doubts on convincing shareholders they want cars that fall apart and are synonymous with nazis and mass, AI generated firing programs.

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

Ikr, like if the only problem is that he has no time to be Tesla's CEO and "getting out of government" would solve things.

[–] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 10 months ago

Pretty sure when they say 'end his government work they actulu mean 'shut the fuck up and stay out of the news'

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 42 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Serious question: With a gutted SEC, a corrupt supreme court and a Presidential pardon presumably in the wings, what's stopping Tesla from just lying like all fuck on their quarterly reports?

US securities fraud was rampant at the best of times. Now, I have not the words to describe what is being done.

[–] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Maybe President Musk can just tell secretary Trump to pull some strings and make sure his best buddies at the courts turn a blind eye to all of these shenanigans.

[–] oyo@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

They're literally making up mileage numbers to commit warranty fraud and trying to scam ev incentives from the Canadian government. There is zero chance Tesla's sales and revenue numbers are accurate.

[–] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I hope Elon can navigate forks in the road better than the cars from his company can

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

My guess is he’ll run head first into a wall. Meep meep.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

That's not enough.

It doesn't matter if Musk stops his MAGA antics overnight; as long as this disgusting South African Nazi owns even one share of Tesla, I ain't buying a car for them.

If Tesla ever wants me to even consider one of their vehicles, they have to ditch the sumbitch.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago

Time for Elon to get forked.

[–] distantsounds@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fork Elon

[–] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io -4 points 10 months ago

Lets get a fork of Elon before he went crazy and was just another angel investor?

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Tesla would be smart to split up their product line into into different corporations and block Musk from involvement.

Their supercharger network is big enough that it could be its own company, especially now that other non-Tesla vehicles can charge at them. It’s basically the EV version of an international gas station chain at this point.

Their Powerwall & Megapack solutions are also a separate product line that could be spun off (along with whatever solar products they have).

When most people think of Tesla these days they mostly think of the cars, and Musks association with it has clearly caused significant harm to that product line. By rebranding the supercharger network and storage business and removing any association with Musk they at least have a chance to see those products succeed without the negative stigma he brings.

I do think it’s too late for the Tesla EV’s though, unless the Tesla board of directors makes major leadership changes. And I don’t see that happening any time soon.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It seems as though the greatest enhancement of efficiency for the sake of value Tesla could do is get rid of Musk. That would be some beautiful poetry, but we don't live in the good timeline where karma is real. We live in the timeline where the villain always wins. :/

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Either he keeps being himself and the stock tanks or he leaves Tesla and the stock tanks. Tesla loses either way.