The decision by Elon Musk to take the advice of Twitter followers on the sale of 10 per cent of his £154billion stake in Tesla has brokers and governance mavens tut-tutting.
A share sale being canceled on the stock market at this level would be a violation of Tesla’s commitments to regulators.
Musk’s market dominance and Tesla’s billion-dollar valuation make everything that he does marketable.
Musk and Tesla’s billion-dollar valuation make everything Maverick market-sensitive
Musk, however, isn’t much of an exception in an era that has seen absurd valuations for special purpose acquisitions companies (SPACs) and new generations of retail investors challenging the large battalions via social media.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States may be talking the talk about dangerous risks in crypto and shares, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has been much less active in trying to calm the excess.
All that Musk is doing is embracing the cyber-universe by consulting followers and investors, and following a well-worn path for founder-entrepreneurs by selling shares to meet a tax liability.
Musk has his eye on the Democrat controlled Congress, which seeks to cover some of Sleepy Joe’s extravagant spending by hammering business.
This is a bad idea in America, where those less fortunate look up at the super-rich believing that they could also be making billions.
Everyone who invested in Tesla must know that the founder is a genius.
German academicians were not impressed by Albert Einstein’s maths that led to the Theory of Relativity.
The reality is that Musk’s presence at Tesla may eventually result in more traditional governance at Tesla.
We hope that it would not be with the obsessive approach to innovation that has caused much of the world’s motor industry to run out of fuel cell and semi-conductors.
Musk’s explorations of the skies through Space-X are truly exciting.
The commercial spin-offs of the Apollo missions are still being used by Earth. Musk’s work is different from the criticisms he faces.
Dire straits
Tesla isn’t the only tech stock that has caused market panic. Due to China’s unwelcome attentions, some Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust zip was lost in the last six month.
China’s clampdown on entrepreneurialism saw Tencent, Alibaba, and Meituan lose their value.
Moderna, a US pharmaceutical company, saved the day. Its purer play Covid-19 vaccine triumph saw the shares triple and catapulted Moderna to the top slot in the £22billion fund.
SMIT managers James Anderson & Tom Slater made incredible returns in the past 10 years, generating 1,072 Percent.
Softbank Japan is also having problems with Beijing, as the maverick Masayoshi Sohn runs it. His Vision Fund took a £7.4billion hit as a result of China’s crackdown on technology firms.
Its big holding in ecommerce pioneer Alibaba lost around one-third of its value in the second quarter and a stake in ride company Didi bought for £8.8billion is now worth £5.5billion. Son is seeking to restore confidence through a £6.6billion share buyback.
Anderson has been a great performer for SMIT and will be looking forward to retiring on top next April. His clients were told not to lose heart over China.
However, Xi’s latest sabre rattling isn’t very encouraging.
Put your foot in your mouth
It is not surprising that JD Sports’ boss Peter Cowgill was filmed having a private conversation in a car park with Barry Bown from Footasylum, during the middle of a competition review.
Cowgill claims that the Competition and Markets Authority was informed of details about the meeting. One theory is that the leak of video footage was done by a rival in an effort to thwart a deal.
Unfortunately for Cowgill his bombastic behaviour towards landlords in the pandemic, and a disputed £4.3million bonus, means he has a diminishing number of City friends.
Cowgill may have lost the will to continue as chairman despite his dual role of chairman and chief executive.