Elon Musk Makes Deal With SEC Not To Discuss Tesla's Finances Without a Lawyer's Approval (cnbc.com) 110
Two months after the SEC asked a federal judge to hold Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for breaking terms of a settlement agreement with a tweet, the two have reportedly reached an agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, Musk agreed not to tweet or otherwise disseminate information about Tesla's finances, production numbers or certain other information without a lawyer's approval. CNBC reports: The late Friday agreement [...] lays out exactly what kind of information requires formal legal review before being shared. This oversight process is now required for the company's blog, statements made on investor calls, as well as social media posts for material information. [CNBC has the laundry list of items laid out in the filing included in their report.]
This superseding agreement settles a dispute between the SEC and Musk about whether the Tesla chief violated the terms of their original deal in which he had agreed to clear his tweets containing material information about the company before posting. The SEC had asserted that Musk never sought clearance for any tweet. The SEC first charged Musk last year, alleging he made fraudulent statements on Twitter. On Aug. 7, Musk tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share. In the first deal, Musk had also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $20 million and forfeit his role as chairman of the board for at least three years. The company also paid a $20 million fine. "Some feared the SEC situation was not going to be resolved favorably so this resolution is a sigh of relief for the bulls. Tesla has enough bad news on its plate so this removes one headache for the Street with the focus now core demand and profitability," said Dan Ives, managing director for equity research at Wedbush Securities.
This superseding agreement settles a dispute between the SEC and Musk about whether the Tesla chief violated the terms of their original deal in which he had agreed to clear his tweets containing material information about the company before posting. The SEC had asserted that Musk never sought clearance for any tweet. The SEC first charged Musk last year, alleging he made fraudulent statements on Twitter. On Aug. 7, Musk tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share. In the first deal, Musk had also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $20 million and forfeit his role as chairman of the board for at least three years. The company also paid a $20 million fine. "Some feared the SEC situation was not going to be resolved favorably so this resolution is a sigh of relief for the bulls. Tesla has enough bad news on its plate so this removes one headache for the Street with the focus now core demand and profitability," said Dan Ives, managing director for equity research at Wedbush Securities.
Re:what's the diff elon vs intel (Score:4, Insightful)
They are giving Musk a break here by, after multiple violations, letting him off by just requiring him to consult with a lawyer before babbling about some things.
If an Intel executive had done what Musk did, the SEC wouldn't be so flexible.
Also, Intel almost certainly is not lying, unlike Musk. That doesn't mean Intel will be successful (a foundry could be crushed by a meteor, a nuclear WWIII could break out, etc), just that they have a rational basis for the expectations they have set in their communications.
Re:what's the diff elon vs intel (Score:4, Insightful)
They are giving Musk a break here by, after multiple violations, letting him off by just requiring him to consult with a lawyer before babbling about some things.
No doubt; the question is, will he be able to manage that, and for how long?
Some people just aren't disciplined enough to use Twitter unsupervised.
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I have my doubts also. Maybe Tesla will take his social media passwords away from him and he has to call the lawyer to make the tweet by proxy. However, he will probably still say something off the wall and irresponsible in some other forum like a speaking engagement or an interview.
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Man, it's a good thing he isn't the president, those tweets be dangerous!
Bummer... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Bummer... (Score:2)
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Why would NVIDIA have any liability? They aren't building cars, and they aren't writing the self-driving software that Tesla was using. They just build a chipset that can be used in cars. I mean, unless you're worried about solder ball failure causing crashes, in which case yeah, sure, but....
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Amazon has been losing money for like two decades now. What is your point?
Re: Bummer... (Score:2)
Amazon has been mapping out and taking control of the channels in many markets for 20 years. And not really at a loss.
Tesla is trying to create and sell cars in "new ways" for reasons nobody outside Silicon Valley can explain or justify, and taking a loss while doing so.
Very different things.
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In means laying the foundations that will underpin a synergistic gatekeeper strategy.
Didn't you go to business school?
Re: Bummer... (Score:5, Insightful)
Tesla is trying to create and sell cars in "new ways" for reasons nobody outside Silicon Valley can explain or justify, and taking a loss while doing so.
Sometimes (often, I'd say) it takes an outsider to innovate. Everybody understands why he is doing this. Whether he'll be successful at it is a different question, but so far he's doing pretty well. And not just in the auto industry.
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Patience. I'm sure Rei (aka Locutus of Musk) will be along shortly.
He Found a Loophole (Score:1)
Delist or (Score:3, Interesting)
Global warming (Score:2, Troll)
Kick Tesla off US public exchanges. Let them trade on other exchanges where investors governance less stringent. Or Elon follows SEC rules and let investor relations authorize disclosures.
You know, with all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about global warming, you would think that people would be four-square behind Musk and Tesla.
37% of US energy production [eia.gov] is from petroleum, almost all of that goes into gasoline. The US is one of the biggest CO2 generators for that reason.
Tesla cars are well liked as a product, and powering them by the grid generates a lot less CO2, since 11% of the grid comes from renewables and 9% comes from nuclear. Add in rooftop solar and we could eliminate that enti
The guy is probably a douche. (Score:3, Insightful)
What makes him so different from all the other douches out there that he is not allowed to promote his business. I know this may seem a little simplistic but I really don't keep up with the stock market and finance anymore than I keep up with other forms forms of gambling.
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You really should stay off stocks. There are rules. And no, other CEO's do not make public statements about company finance that are patently false. Going public at 420 was simply not true. And why do they not make these statements? Because CEO's CFO's and other top people at companies have inside information. So if a CEO lies about something like the 420 thing, it is likely to cause the stock to move because shareholders and investors assume the information is not a lie. Imagine if Hackett at Ford said, Th
Re:The guy is probably a douche. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The guy is probably a douche. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The guy is probably a douche. (Score:4, Interesting)
What makes him so different from all the other douches out there that he is not allowed to promote his business
He actually seems like a cool and chill guy. A strange guy, but what rocket builder isn't?
Re:The guy is probably a douche. (Score:4, Informative)
He actually seems like a cool and chill guy.
That's probably because he is not an MBA hiding behind years of media training. It's what the MBAs call "authenticity"; one of their favorite words these days. Of course the more they use it, the less they are.
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Considering how much cash Tesla burns (Score:3)
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Enron had a market cap of $80B. Worldcom $120B. Market cap means nothing.
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Damn straight. I don't like the guy. Sorry you don't like it. Didn't like the Theranos CEO either.
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Tesla has the largest charging network by a sizable margin. That's why nobody else is selling a meaningful number of EVs outside of California and the northeastern U.S. (where non-Tesla L3 charging actually exists meaningfully). That does not paint a pretty picture for anybody else.
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Wow. Haven't heard that every month for the past 10 years, no siree.
Its good advice for everyone (Score:2)
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He's the only one who gives it out without running it by a lawyer or an adult (or someone who's both - I hear they exist) first.
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