Elon’s Empire
Goldman Sachs Plays A Rotten Role In Tesla-SolarCity Deal
Summary
- You’ve not met Aswath Damodaran? Allow me to introduce you.
- Damodaran lays bare the many follies & misdeeds behind the TSLA-SCTY fairness opinions.
- In the Tesla fairness opinion kitchen, Goldman Sachs wrote the recipe, furnished the ingredients, and supplied the spoon; Evercore and Lazard merely stirred the pot.
- Goldman Sachs has been consistently wrong in forecasting Tesla performance, and (very quietly) already has slashed the 2017 revenue forecast it gave Evercore and Lazard.
- Ben Kallo stops by with an important reminder for us all.
This shows why Tesla-SolarCity is a ‘crazy’ merger, Jim Chanos says
Jim Chanos called Tesla Motors’ proposed merger with SolarCity”crazy” and “the height of folly” while outlining his short positions in the stocks on Tuesday.
The short-seller from Kynikos Associates estimated the combined company would burn through $1 billion per quarter and “constantly need access to capital markets.” He described SolarCity’s business model as “just plain uneconomic.”
Read more "This shows why Tesla-SolarCity is a ‘crazy’ merger, Jim Chanos says"Tesla’s Competition: An Example for Why it Should Not Receive Subsidies
Tesla’s New Autopilot Software Won’t Fix its Reputation
The SpaceX explosion’s echoing impact
The explosion investigation and launchpad repair seem sure to scuttle SpaceX’s aggressive launch plans this year. The company had hoped for as many as 18 rocket launches this year. It has had eight so far; last week’s would have made nine. Over all, SpaceX has had 27 successful launches of Falcon 9 rockets.
The Florida accident is also rippling through the insurance market. Insuring the risk of getting a satellite into space comes in two stages. The preflight insurance is intended to mainly cover the risk of damage to the rocket and satellite on their way to the launchpad. Premiums are a fraction of a percent.
Read more "The SpaceX explosion’s echoing impact"Tesla’s Head of Communications departs
Since Reyes’ departure from Tesla, Khobi Brooklyn, Director of Communications, became the most senior employee in the department and the de facto “Head of Global Communications”. We now learn that she is also leaving the automaker just a few months after Reyes.
As previously mentioned, Reyes has been VP of Communications at Tesla on two occasions. First from 2009 to 2012, when he left for a 2-year stint at Square, a financial service and mobile payment company. He then came back to Tesla in 2014. Brooklyn joined Tesla around the same time as Reyes (2009) and followed him to Square and back to Tesla again in 2014.
The company didn’t hire or promote another Vice President when Reyes left in March, but sources familiar with the situation told us that the company’s General Counsel and Elon Musk’s former divorce attorney, Todd Maron, among others had oversight and executive responsibilities of the communications department.
We asked Tesla for a comment on the situation, but our request went unanswered. The company rarely comments on employee matters.
Read more "Tesla’s Head of Communications departs"