
Tesla's Call for Suppliers to Refund Cash ‘Reeks of Desperation’ - john58
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-23/tesla-s-call-for-suppliers-to-refund-cash-reeks-of-desperation
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rory096
Why is Tesla so insistent on hitting cash flow positivity without raising any
additional capital?

They're sitting on a $50+ billion market cap, it shouldn't be that hard to
raise. We're not even talking about increasing their debt load, since $1B of
bonds are coming due. Why not just refinance them? Yes, they have a junk
rating, but they've consistently borrowed at lower interest rates than
comparable companies.

It seems driven by Elon Musk's hubris and insistence on proving shorts wrong
rather than sound business strategy.

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spiderfarmer
I think it’s also because Tesla needs the positive press that comes with
reaching their goals. A lot of investors are investing because they want the
company to succeed and Tesla needs their trust, especially after missing so
many deadlines.

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dragontamer
Does this thread substantially contribute more than the previous hacker news
discussion?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17589429](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17589429)

I do realize that this article is from Bloomberg and the other one is from
Wall Street Journal. But most of the discussion has already happened over
there.

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pvg
No, it's just a dupe.

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spiderfarmer
Even though Bloomberg has pronounced Tesla dead on more than one occasion, I’m
still not convinced their recent troubles are big enough for the short sellers
to make their money back.

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metalliqaz
If I'm understanding the articles correctly, Tesla is looking to recover funds
from suppliers for failed deliverables/objectives. Why _wouldn 't_ they be
trying to get compensated for that?

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gamblor956
You're misunderstanding the articles. Tesla isn't looking to recover funds for
failed deliverables, it's looking for a post-dated discount, retroactive to
the original contract dates (as far back as 2016).

If Tesla had issues with suppliers previously, the proper venue would have
been to withhold payments (interim payments or the final payment) pursuant to
the terms of the supply contract, not send a memo asking for a refund after
the fact.

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dmode
Omg, Tesla is dead again !!! I swear, I have read at least a thousand articles
predicting Tesla's demise.

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bpd1069
The WSJ 'reeks of desperation', and the New York Post.

NewsCorp should be given the corporate death penalty.

