
Tesla Receives Subpoena Over Musk's Take-Private Tweet - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-15/tesla-drops-on-report-of-sec-subpoena-over-musk-go-private-plan
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TAForObvReasons
dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17769810)

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dunpeal
Musk's "funding secured" tweet was incredibly irresponsible. Subsequent
elaborations by Musk himself showed he had, at most, an initial expression of
interest.

The tweet seems, at best, to be an impulsive, reckless, perplexing action. At
worst, it's an emotional attempt to fend off, possibly even directly harm his
many critics and short-sellers.

This doesn't look good for him. This is the key part that makes it serious:

> The subpoenas indicate senior SEC officials have authorized a formal
> investigation of the company, a step up from the initial inquiries the
> regulator made to Tesla last week. The SEC opens formal investigations when
> it thinks a violation of law has occurred and that a probe is justified
> given the nature of the suspected misconduct and the potential harm to
> investors.

Unless Elon can suddenly show he had credible funding secured - contrary to
the representation in his own blog post of last week - this looks like a very
strong case for the SEC.

Besides the SEC, which is a criminal investigation, there are also civil
lawsuits filed in this case - three of them so far:

[https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-
lawsuit-a...](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-hit-with-new-lawsuit-
alleging-elon-musk-manipulated-stock-price-2018-8)

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_bxg1
He seems to have been on a mild downward spiral for the past year or so,
presumably under the pressure of the Model 3's stumbling launch. He's gotten
more impulsive.

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asdfman123
Hot take: public figures and business leaders should find a way to communicate
to the public without embarrassing themselves or endangering their own
interests.

I have a novel idea. How about they hire people really good at tweeting and
communications, so that they don't let their ego get in the way of their own
company?

They could call these people "People Really Good At Tweeting" (PRGT). Or maybe
just shorten the acronym to "PR."

PR people should do the Tweeting and the egomaniacs should stay out of it.

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jacquesm
Musk has used social media to good effect, but he has also scored some
terrible own goals (the bankruptcy joke and this one). I really don't
understand why he can't curb his tendency to shoot from the hip like this,
we're talking billions of investment and that requires a slightly more mature
attitude.

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_bxg1
[https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4...](https://78.media.tumblr.com/6d6886ace0152a84b36d3c7c47c1c4d4/tumblr_np1v2cThaA1tdihcbo1_400.gif)

