Elon Musk now owns 9.2% of twitter...update.. will soon be the sole owner as Board of Directors accepts his purchase offer

[Kaido]

Crashed the revenue so bad he's trying to sue people to force them to advertise

Suing LEGO last month made me LOL. Can you imagine the message it sends to companies who don't currently advertise on the platform?

Elon Musk's X sues Lego, Shell, more companies over advertising 'boycott' from platform

The new complaint adds Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods and Shell International to the list.

www.usatoday.com

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Wut

The gag: Europeans think 100mi is a long distance, Americans think 100y is a long time.

 

[Kaido]

The gag: Europeans think 100mi is a long distance, Americans think 100y is a long time.

My daily commute is often 100 miles lol

 

[cytg111]

Has he overdosed yet?

 

[mikeymikec]

He could literally be seen as Tony Stark if he wanted to..

Not really (assuming you're referring to walking the walk rather than just talking the talk). There's not an ounce of common sense in his brain, and he has a couple of degrees. Big whoop. So do millions of other people.

 

[Kaido]

Not really (assuming you're referring to walking the walk rather than just talking the talk).

No, his business skills are:

1. Having huge amounts of funding
2. Investing in projects that pay out over time (ex. NACS is now nearly universally standard in American-sold EV's as of 2025)
3. Hiring really smart people

Bosses like to take credit for the results, which creates a public illusion. But big projects require both financing & vision. The Tesla "master plans" were crystal-clear:

Master Plan, Part 1
Master Plan, Part 2
Master Plan, Part 3

If he really wants people to like him:

1. Hire a PR team & go on an apology tour
2. Withdraw from government work
3. Focus on making really cool stuff

Still waiting on that Roadster 2.0 from a million years ago...

 

[mikeymikec]

No, his business skills are:

I assumed the Tony Stark reference was with regard to his technical skills. Pretty sure that's what the fictional character is known for...

 

[linkgoron]

I've been following Tesla since the early pre-Musk days...it's been incredible to see the growth in terms of EV marketshare, Superchargers, battery range, safety, self-driving, etc. My neighbor had a GM EV1 back in the 90's, which I thought was so cool because all he had to do was plug it in!

Tesla was a revolutionary company, but they have stagnated. Musk's overpromising and pumping the stock while underperforming with FSD and the Cybertruck can only get the company so far. Maybe the new Model Y will help them a bit, although I haven't been following.

I don't think they're going to keep the lead in self-driving if they don't focus more on it, especially with how rapidly AI is advancing.

With regards to self driving, I assume that Waymo are probably the leader. On the Chinese front, DeepSeek have already integrated with Xpeng and others, and BYD are also adding integration to all of their existing lineups "for no additional cost". It's not FSD, but "The system includes remote parking and autonomous highway navigation", so it's a start.

Worldwide, I don't think they're going to keep the EV lead for very long, partly due to competitors catching up & lately due to how Musk is perceived worldwide & how he makes the United States look.

View attachment 118598

Tesla is still of course overvalued by a lot. They should be at most a third, and I'm being generous.

 

[K1052]

With regards to self driving, I assume that Waymo are probably the leader.

This is correct by all accounts I hear because Waymo actually works lol.

 

[Kaido]

Tesla was a revolutionary company, but they have stagnated. Musk's overpromising and pumping the stock while underperforming with FSD and the Cybertruck can only get the company so far. Maybe the new Model Y will help them a bit, although I haven't been following.

With regards to self driving, I assume that Waymo are probably the leader. On the Chinese front, DeepSeek have already integrated with Xpeng and others, and BYD are also adding integration to all of their existing lineups "for no additional cost". It's not FSD, but "The system includes remote parking and autonomous highway navigation", so it's a start.

Tesla is still of course overvalued by a lot. They should be at most a third, and I'm being generous.

"Was" is the key word, unfortunately.

With how fast & cheaply DeepSeek came out, I think Tesla is in a LOT of trouble if they don't keep the ball rolling on the FSD front.

 

[K1052]

Just hugely corrupt. He's simply taking for himself massive contracts with no legal procurement process, no oversight. This is simple theft from taxpayers.

Elon Musk’s satellite business Starlink may not have officially taken over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract with the Federal Aviation Administration yet to upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. However, on Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal, according to a source with knowledge of the FAA and two people briefed on the situation.

The sources note that these internal directives have mostly, if not entirely, been delivered verbally — which they say is unusual for a matter like this. The source with knowledge of the FAA tells Rolling Stone that it appears as though “someone does not want a paper trail.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...arlink-faa-officials-find-funding-1235285246/

 

[Kaido]

I assumed the Tony Stark reference was with regard to his technical skills. Pretty sure that's what the fictional character is known for...

Oh, yeah. I was thinking more in terms of public perception, i.e. billionaire releasing cool stuff to the public. The cellular-Starlink integration is going to save lives in areas with poor reception:

https://www.pcmag.com/news/t-mobile-opens-cellular-starlink-beta-to-att-and-verizon-users-reveals

Wish James Kim had had access to it:

Lessons learned from Kim tragedy

One year later, the death of CNET's James Kim has led to advances in search-and-rescue techniques and a better grasp of how cell phones can save lives. Video: Remembering James Kim

www.cnet.com

 

[Kaido]

This is correct by all accounts I hear because Waymo actually works lol.

My buddy took me out in his MY with the City FSD update last year. I've been following self-driving for many years and have always thought that true FSD was five to ten years off, but I was shocked to see that it's at least 90% there already. Really, really impressive. I think AI is the final push required to get it over the finish line!

I still do not agree with Tesla's camera-only approach; I think LIDAR is going to be required, especially for inclement weather.

 

[Kaido]

Tesla was a revolutionary company, but they have stagnated. Musk's overpromising and pumping the stock while underperforming with FSD and the Cybertruck can only get the company so far. Maybe the new Model Y will help them a bit, although I haven't been following.

With regards to self driving, I assume that Waymo are probably the leader. On the Chinese front, DeepSeek have already integrated with Xpeng and others, and BYD are also adding integration to all of their existing lineups "for no additional cost". It's not FSD, but "The system includes remote parking and autonomous highway navigation", so it's a start.

Tesla is still of course overvalued by a lot. They should be at most a third, and I'm being generous.

Really impressed to see BYD bring self-driving to sub-$10k cars, given that Tesla's software package is an $8,000 add-on lol:

BYD plans to bring autonomous driving features to sub-$10k cars

The Chinese EV giant BYD is shaking up the automotive market by breaking cost barriers in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).

www.rdworldonline.com

 

[manly]

"Was" is the key word, unfortunately.

With how fast & cheaply DeepSeek came out, I think Tesla is in a LOT of trouble if they don't keep the ball rolling on the FSD front.

Geez Kaido, your most recent takes are just cringe-worthy.

You keep saying Elon has a PR problem, and it's not that at all. Perhaps the truth is in the middle somewhere between full Nazi and misunderstood billionaire, but most of us aren't giving him the benefit of the doubt. IMHO he's revealed his moral compass over the past years. No amount of saying "I'm truly sorry" would change my mind on that.

Secondly, keep what ball rolling on FSD? It's been "almost done" for years now, and if you're being generous, it's a decent L2 system. Even their own people have given depositions under oath that it may NEVER be any better than an L2 system.

Quite frankly, only Elon stans think that Tesla is an AI play on the cusp of big breakthroughs that justify their nearly $1T market cap. If that's what you are, that's fine. Somebody has to take the baton from ponyo.

No matter what happens to Tesla, Elon will be fine because SpaceX is literally TBTF now for U.S. space interests.

@linkgoron Tesla has severe demand issues in both EU and China. With CT looking like a dud, warning bells should be going off right now for their senior management. Maybe someone should tell the CEO?

 

[brycejones]

Geez Kaido, your most recent takes are just cringe-worthy.

You keep saying Elon has a PR problem, and it's not that at all. Perhaps the truth is in the middle somewhere between full Nazi and misunderstood billionaire, but most of us aren't giving him the benefit of the doubt. IMHO he's revealed his moral compass over the past years. No amount of saying "I'm truly sorry" would change my mind on that.

Secondly, keep what ball rolling on FSD? It's been "almost done" for years now, and if you're being generous, it's a decent L2 system. Even their own people have given depositions under oath that it may NEVER be any better than an L2 system.

Quite frankly, only Elon stans think that Tesla is an AI play on the cusp of big breakthroughs that justify their nearly $1T market cap. If that's what you are, that's fine. Somebody has to take the baton from ponyo.

No matter what happens to Tesla, Elon will be fine because SpaceX is literally TBTF now for U.S. space interests.

@linkgoron Tesla has severe demand issues in both EU and China. With CT looking like a dud, warning bells should be going off right now for their senior management. Maybe someone should tell the CEO?

All of teslas problems will fixed by a two seat taxi. If you take enough drugs.

 

[Kaido]

Geez Kaido, your most recent takes are just cringe-worthy.

You keep saying Elon has a PR problem, and it's not that at all. Perhaps the truth is in the middle somewhere between full Nazi and misunderstood billionaire, but most of us aren't giving him the benefit of the doubt. IMHO he's revealed his moral compass over the past years. No amount of saying "I'm truly sorry" would change my mind on that.

Secondly, keep what ball rolling on FSD? It's been "almost done" for years now, and if you're being generous, it's a decent L2 system. Even their own people have given depositions under oath that it may NEVER be any better than an L2 system.

Quite frankly, only Elon stans think that Tesla is an AI play on the cusp of big breakthroughs that justify their nearly $1T market cap. If that's what you are, that's fine. Somebody has to take the baton from ponyo.

No matter what happens to Tesla, Elon will be fine because SpaceX is literally TBTF now for U.S. space interests.

@linkgoron Tesla has severe demand issues in both EU and China. With CT looking like a dud, warning bells should be going off right now for their senior management. Maybe someone should tell the CEO?

My take is:

1. I don't support para-social relationships with public figures; I don't own a Tesla or Tesla stock. I have no investment outside of idle forum discussion. I do think the cars are pretty cool & I like to follow self-driving technology!

2. What Elon chooses to do & how he chooses to represent himself is 100% up to him. I take a lot of business, marketing, and advertising courses as part of my ongoing professional education & his behavior constantly comes up in case studies, so much of my interest is in studying how leadership affects companies. From what I've learned over the years, I don't think you can be involved in politics & not be corrupt because of the way the system is structured. The most recent example of the Verizon vs. Starlink FAA contract is a prime example of that.

From a business & PR perspective, Elon could fix his public reputation overnight, should he choose to do so. Would that change who he is or his behavior? No. Would it change your perception of him? Also no, because you know how he really acts. He has a history of broken promises when it comes to specs & timelines and poor behavior when it comes to how he treats people & business partners (ex. Twitter advertisers). And Tesla itself isn't just overvalued, it's insanely overvalued.

3. I view the products separately. When you put something out into the world, it gets absorbed by the culture. How each individual chooses to view & support those products is a personal choice. A recent example is JK Rowling's public behavior vs. the Harry Potter franchise: some people choose to separate the product from the creator & continue to enjoy the it (HBO is even releasing a new Harry Potter TV show next year!), while others went as far as choosing to get their tattoos removed because they didn't want to be associated with her.

I 100% understand why people would not want to be associated with the Tesla brand as a result of Elon Musk's behavior. However, as a second discussion point, I also find it largely hypocritical when people only boycott what they see in the current news cycle without doing any further research into other companies that behave poorly as well & then applying an equal amount of protesting as well. For those who chose to boycott Chick-fil-A, why are they choosing to conveniently ignore the other 243 companies with similar issues?

Short version: If you are going to boycott Chick-fil-A, you might have to reconsider shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond, Acme (Albertsons Companies), and H&M; eating at Outback (Bloomin’ Brands) and Taco Bell (Yum China Holdings); living in Toll Brothers McMansions; feeding the kids Dole bananas and pineapples; using ADT for your security company; and buying spark plugs at Pep Boys, which is headquartered in Philadelphia.

Again, it's up to each person to decide how they want to view public personas & what they choose to support after that. I've seen people who were strongly opposed to either Biden or Trump who didn't leave the country, despite not wanting to be branded "Americans" anymore, yet they wanted to continue to enjoy all of the benefits of living here, despite a disagreement in leadership & representation.

As far as domestic vehicles go? Ford Motor Company just agreed to pay the United States $365 million to resolve "allegations" that it violated the Tariff Act of 1930. VW's DieselGate debacle has cost them over $33 billion worldwide so far & contributed to wrecking the environment further. The world is a mess & will always be a mess. Shein is awful. Amazon is a union-busting, trillion-dollar company that violates workers rights. The majority of chocolate is made with slave labor.

There's a LOT of corruption in the world; thanks to the Internet, more & more of it is getting exposed to the public. I think personal views & what people choose to support is up to them. It can be difficult to have truly ethical consumption in any domain under capitalism, whether it's the car you drive, the food you eat, or the clothes you wear. People judge other people for driving a Tesla, but then turn a blind eye to Fiat Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan, and literally every other brand of car who lie, cheat, steal, and damage the environment.

 

[Kaido]

All of teslas problems will fixed by a two seat taxi.

Every time I see the concept of a driverless car, this scene comes to mind...no thanks!!

 

[MrSquished]

My take is:

1. I don't support para-social relationships with public figures; I don't own a Tesla or Tesla stock. I have no investment outside of idle forum discussion. I do think the cars are pretty cool & I like to follow self-driving technology!

2. What Elon chooses to do & how he chooses to represent himself is 100% up to him. I take a lot of business, marketing, and advertising courses as part of my ongoing professional education & his behavior constantly comes up in case studies, so much of my interest is in studying how leadership affects companies. From what I've learned over the years, I don't think you can be involved in politics & not be corrupt because of the way the system is structured. The most recent example of the Verizon vs. Starlink FAA contract is a prime example of that.

From a business & PR perspective, Elon could fix his public reputation overnight, should he choose to do so. Would that change who he is or his behavior? No. Would it change your perception of him? Also no, because you know how he really acts. He has a history of broken promises when it comes to specs & timelines and poor behavior when it comes to how he treats people & business partners (ex. Twitter advertisers). And Tesla itself isn't just overvalued, it's insanely overvalued.

3. I view the products separately. When you put something out into the world, it gets absorbed by the culture. How each individual chooses to view & support those products is a personal choice. A recent example is JK Rowling's public behavior vs. the Harry Potter franchise: some people choose to separate the product from the creator & continue to enjoy the it (HBO is even releasing a new Harry Potter TV show next year!), while others went as far as choosing to get their tattoos removed because they didn't want to be associated with her.

I 100% understand why people would not want to be associated with the Tesla brand as a result of Elon Musk's behavior. However, as a second discussion point, I also find it largely hypocritical when people only boycott what they see in the current news cycle without doing any further research into other companies that behave poorly as well & then applying an equal amount of protesting as well. For those who chose to boycott Chick-fil-A, why are they choosing to conveniently ignore the other 243 companies with similar issues?



Again, it's up to each person to decide how they want to view public personas & what they choose to support after that. I've seen people who were strongly opposed to either Biden or Trump who didn't leave the country, despite not wanting to be branded "Americans" anymore, yet they wanted to continue to enjoy all of the benefits of living here, despite a disagreement in leadership & representation.

As far as domestic vehicles go? Ford Motor Company just agreed to pay the United States $365 million to resolve "allegations" that it violated the Tariff Act of 1930. VW's DieselGate debacle has cost them over $33 billion worldwide so far & contributed to wrecking the environment further. The world is a mess & will always be a mess. Shein is awful. Amazon is a union-busting, trillion-dollar company that violates workers rights. The majority of chocolate is made with slave labor.

There's a LOT of corruption in the world; thanks to the Internet, more & more of it is getting exposed to the public. I think personal views & what people choose to support is up to them. It can be difficult to have truly ethical consumption in any domain under capitalism, whether it's the car you drive, the food you eat, or the clothes you wear. People judge other people for driving a Tesla, but then turn a blind eye to Fiat Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan, and literally every other brand of car who lie, cheat, steal, and damage the environment.

I find that your criticism, and this is a common criticism among those defending the indefensible while pretending they aren't, is that if you don't boycott every company with bad behavior, it makes it all simply hypocritical. What a bunch of horseshit. We can't live perfect lives, and we shouldn't be expected to live off the grid for any of our boycotts to be considered morally ok.

Also, not every brand has a literal evil spokesperson so inexorably tied to their brand, like Tesla does. I mean Elon IS Tesla, unlike even say, Hobby Lobby or even Chick Fil A who have nothing of the sort. That's a big differentiation you overlook.

Elon Musk is one of the top 10 evil men on the planet right now. I'd say it's ok to give his fucking products more of a consideration than others. And many of us ARE boycotting many other companies. Recent studies have shown that at least a quarter of Americans are changing multiple shopping habits based on politics. No we can't boycott them all, which makes your point totally irrelevant.

 

[Kaido]

I find that your criticism, and this is a common criticism among those defending the indefensible while pretending they aren't, is that if you don't boycott every company with bad behavior, it makes it all simply hypocritical.

As mentioned, I said that as a second discussion point. Some companies are worse than others; everyone gets to choose how they view people & what products they support. I don't think it has to be "all or nothing" in every single scenario. Two questions for you:

1. Do you personally refuse to buy a Tesla because of Elon Musk?

2. Do you think existing owners should sell their Teslas?

 

[Kaido]

Recent studies have shown that at least a quarter of Americans are changing multiple shopping habits based on politics.

Target's store traffic dropped nearly 10% post-DEI reversal:

Target backtracking its DEI efforts backfired. Store traffic dropped nearly 10% after the company's move to conclude its diversity-related goals and initiatives

It was the first drop in foot traffic this year for Target.

fortune.com

Really impressive consumer impact! People are switching to Costco in droves!

 

[K1052]

Target's store traffic dropped nearly 10% post-DEI reversal:

Target backtracking its DEI efforts backfired. Store traffic dropped nearly 10% after the company's move to conclude its diversity-related goals and initiatives

It was the first drop in foot traffic this year for Target.

fortune.com

Really impressive consumer impact! People are switching to Costco in droves!

It's probably a factor but I think this is probably more a slowing economy flag than a result of their policy change. Walmart also noted slower growth and more people with higher incomes shopping them. Warehouse shopping also pops for the same reason.

 

[Kaido]

It's probably a factor but I think this is probably more a slowing economy flag than a result of their policy change. Walmart also noted slower growth and more people with higher incomes shopping them. Warehouse shopping also pops for the same reason.

The problem is that no company can support bottom-line growth forever, which is what investors demand:

Walmart (WMT 1.88%) reported a fantastic quarter, but the stock price fell by over 6% anyway

 

[brycejones]

As mentioned, I said that as a second discussion point. Some companies are worse than others; everyone gets to choose how they view people & what products they support. I don't think it has to be "all or nothing" in every single scenario. Two questions for you:

1. Do you personally refuse to buy a Tesla because of Elon Musk?

2. Do you think existing owners should sell their Teslas?

1. Yes

2. Not much point in that, he already has the money. But you can refuse to do things like use the supercharger network if you have to pay, push strongly for right to repair laws so you don't have to take it to Tesla for repairs etc. Do everything possible to keep money out of his pocket. Drive the car into the ground.

 

[MrSquished]

As mentioned, I said that as a second discussion point. Some companies are worse than others; everyone gets to choose how they view people & what products they support. I don't think it has to be "all or nothing" in every single scenario. Two questions for you:

1. Do you personally refuse to buy a Tesla because of Elon Musk?

2. Do you think existing owners should sell their Teslas?

What does it matter if it's a second or third discussion point? Not sure I find any relevance to that. Also, you snipped off my other two points which all tied into what you quoted above, which doesn't make sense. They all tied in together cohesively

Also, not every brand has a literal evil spokesperson so inexorably tied to their brand, like Tesla does. I mean Elon IS Tesla, unlike even say, Hobby Lobby or even Chick Fil A who have nothing of the sort. That's a big differentiation you overlook.

Elon Musk is one of the top 10 evil men on the planet right now. I'd say it's ok to give his fucking products more of a consideration than others. And many of us ARE boycotting many other companies. Recent studies have shown that at least a quarter of Americans are changing multiple shopping habits based on politics. No we can't boycott them all, which makes your point totally irrelevant.

In regards to

As mentioned, I said that as a second discussion point. Some companies are worse than others; everyone gets to choose how they view people & what products they support. I don't think it has to be "all or nothing" in every single scenario. Two questions for you:

1. Do you personally refuse to buy a Tesla because of Elon Musk?

2. Do you think existing owners should sell their Teslas?

1. Absolutely yes and I think anyone with a half-decent moral compass should

2. No. But if you are quite well off and the financials don't really matter, I think you should strongly consider it.