Tesla shares fall after CEO Musk abuses British caver

[webfact]

Tesla shares fall after CEO Musk abuses British caver

Reuters Staff

 

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk arrives to speak at Boring Company community meeting in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, U.S. May 17, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Shares of Tesla Inc fell over 3.5 percent on Monday after Chief Executive Elon Musk directed abuse on Twitter at one of the British cavers involved in the rescue of 12 Thai children last week.

 

A number of analysts and investors, requesting anonymity, told Reuters that Musk’s comments were adding to their concerns that his public statements were distracting him from Tesla’s main business of producing electric cars. The stock sell-off knocked almost $2 billion off the company’s market value.

 

Tesla shares were at $307.20 in after-hours trading on Monday from Friday’s close of $318.87.

 

James Anderson, a partner at Tesla’s fourth-largest shareholder, asset manager Baillie Gifford, called the weekend’s events “a regrettable instance” and said he had reiterated to the company the need for “peace and execution” of its core business.

 

The billionaire entrepreneur’s spat with British caver Vernon Unsworth started last week, after rescue teams rejected Musk’s offer of a mini-submarine created by his rocket company SpaceX to help rescue a 12-member soccer team and their coach trapped inside a flooded cave in the northern province of Chiang Rai.

 

“He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” CNN quoted Unsworth as saying last week. “It just has absolutely no chance of working.”

 

Musk shot back on Sunday on Twitter: “We will make one (video) of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.” The tweet was later deleted.

 

Tesla spokespeople and lawyers did not respond to emails and phone calls from Reuters requesting comment on Musk’s comments on Twitter.

 

Musk gave no evidence for alleging Unsworth was a pedophile. Unsworth said he would consider taking legal action against Musk over the remarks, in comments filmed in Chiang Rai on Monday by Australia’s 9News.

 

“It’s not finished. No justification. At the end of the day we were here to rescue 12 young boys. I don’t really understand the guy. Obviously it’s a bruised ego. I’ll take advice when I get back to London,” Unsworth told 9News.

 

Reuters could not immediately reach Unsworth for comment.

 

His wife, Voranan Rattawipakhun, told Reuters on Monday that her husband would return to Britain on July 19, where he will speak to lawyers.

 

A police officer in the Chiang Rai district where Unsworth has lived for seven years, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that no charges or complaints had ever been filed against Unsworth.

 

In a Tweet, Musk had proposed “a tiny kid sized submarine” for the rescue. He showed a test of the submarine in a Los Angeles swimming pool on July 9.

 

Last week, Narongsak Osottanakorn, the leader of the rescue operation in Thailand, rejected Musk’s mini-submarine as not suitable for the task. Musk responded on Twitter on July 10, calling Osottanakorn “not the subject matter expert.”

 

Musk also regularly uses Twitter to criticize media reports on Tesla, which has struggled to meet its own production targets for its Model 3 sedan, which is seen as key to the company’s profitability.

 

(Reporting by Sonam Rai in BENGALURU, by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panarat Thepgumpanat in BANGKOK, and by Panu Wongcha-um in CHIANG RAI; Writing by Patrick Graham and John Chalmers; Editing by Bill Rigby and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-17

[CelticBhoy]

Som num na, Muskie  . . . . ?

[ExpatOilWorker]

Tesla shares fell because oil dropped $5!

[watcharacters]

 

What Musk said was definitely idiotic but some double down on idiocy  by calling such an incredible  innovator stupid.

 

I think I'd like to give his "stupid" a  try out for a while.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by watcharacters

[55Jay]

TSLA shares are always up and down.  Did expect a bit of a tumble on Monday morning EST after the shit show on Twiddle.  Despite that, still hanging in the +300 zone.

 

Rocket Man is egotistical and stubborn but hopefully, he's smart enough to quietly heed the pearls of wisdom amidst the verbal diarrhea.  If he doesn't, and TSLA takes another walk down to the mid-$200s again, I'm all over it.  ?

[Fairynuff]

Some people just don’t know when to shut up

[keeniau96]

The Brit divers were the real heroes of the rescue without disparaging the great sacrifice made by the Thai SEAL.

 

Musk showed his blatant ignorance of the facts of the situation and compounded it with the insult of a good man. Clearly he had never dived in a cave, which has absolutely no similarity to boring horizontal holes in rock, driving cars or shooting objects into space. He and consequently Tesla has lost much face in Thailand.

 

[d3viliz3d]

1 hour ago, watcharacters said:

 

What Musk said was definitely idiotic but some double down on idiocy  by calling such an incredible  innovator stupid.

 

I think I'd like to give his "stupid" a  try out for a while.

 

 

 

 

Indeed. Musk certainly went too far with his comments, but this guy firing down on him just because he proposed a possible solution, spending his own money to bring equipment and a team there, is nonsense.

[tubby johnson]

I'd like to abuse Musk's man cave as punishment.

[outsider]

Som nam na. Not a very nice feeling now that you're getting shafted up your own cave huh. Rocking up with some swimming pool toys and pissing on the real work people are doing isn't going to make you a hero, musky <deleted>. Try wearing your panties outside and jumping off buildings - that might work.

Edited July 17, 2018 by outsider

[Dario]

Elon lost his temper. In the end we are all just humans, rich or poor, super smart or uneducated. But still, it's a REAL pity for him for a person the whole planet watches. I'm in the tennis world for my young daughter. Many tennis super stars have smashed their rackets on court (Serena, Novak, Maria Sharapova, etc), all people who earn substantial fortunes every year.

[Solinvictus]

Shares are declining due to the truth coming out...too bad...

 

Did you see the video of the guy frowning because he called him a girl...lol...

[smutcakes]

39 minutes ago, keeniau96 said:

The Brit divers were the real heroes of the rescue without disparaging the great sacrifice made by the Thai SEAL.

 

Musk showed his blatant ignorance of the facts of the situation and compounded it with the insult of a good man. Clearly he had never dived in a cave, which has absolutely no similarity to boring horizontal holes in rock, driving cars or shooting objects into space. He and consequently Tesla has lost much face in Thailand.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by smutcakes
Quoted wrong post

[smutcakes]

26 minutes ago, d3viliz3d said:

Indeed. Musk certainly went too far with his comments, but this guy firing down on him just because he proposed a possible solution, spending his own money to bring equipment and a team there, is nonsense.

It was not a solution and anyone with half a brain could see it would never work in the cave, even before taking into account it had barely been tested. His solution was about as useful as me turning up with a raincoat and a pair of wellies with camera crew in tow. Would people of taken me seriously if i proclaimed i was trying to help?

[hhinhh]

Musk gets more and more nervous because he his is afraid investors will not continue to pay his game of burning of money with Tesla. So he tries to get more or less stupid attractions where ever he can. He even did not hesitate to abuse these poor boys for his propaganda. But this time it did not work. Go to your village on Mars and leave us alone!

 

[spidermike007]

Sorry, but all politics aside, he made a very ignorant statement about a hero. How many lives has Musk saved lately? He is alot dumber than we thought. He may be a genius when it comes to innovation, but it appears he is a real dummy when it comes to life, and a man devoid of compassion. I used to admire the guy. But, after reading many of the statements he has made over the years, I withdraw my admiration, thank you very much. In this day and age, you just cannot get away with being very ignorant anymore. Not like in the past where super fools like Trump, Musk, Schnatter, Aaron Schlossberg (the fool attorney in NYC, who went on a racist rant for the sixth time in public, all caught on video!), Alison Ettel ("permit patty", the ridiculous clown in SF who shouted down the young kid who was selling water), said really dumb things, and got away with it. Not any more. And that is a good thing. Despite the feelings of some devotees of Tiny Don, who are waging a personal war on the media, as instructed by the master. 

[evadgib]

Lets hope he learns from this spectacular PR own goal.

[NextStationBangkok]

Just two lines tweet costed 2 Billion ?

 

Goodluck next time, don't scribe when you are out of mind.

[peperobi]

The guy (Musk) know how to let work the media for his own advantage, I suppose that he will go to the end, then he has to pay a small amount of money to the diver (pocket money), and get more publicity. The name Tesla is always present.

That guy is very clever!

[peperobi]

17 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Lets hope he learns from this spectacular PR own goal.

I think he knows exactly what he does!

[ZAKY]

It was in response of what Unsworth said! It is an argument between both! Both tried  to contribute to save the boys, one succeeded and one unfortunately reacted too late, nothing says that the submarine idea was a bad one. Anyway all these has nothing to do with Tesla’s cars! 

[fantom]

3 minutes ago, ZAKY said:

It was in response of what Unsworth said! It is an argument between both! Both tried  to contribute to save the boys, one succeeded and one unfortunately reacted too late, nothing says that the submarine idea was a bad one. Anyway all these has nothing to do with Tesla’s cars! 

Plenty says the submarine idea was the wrong one in this situation

[Formaleins]

A strange thing for Musk to come out with, unless he knows more than us? It sometimes makes you wonder. Just keep watching the news and see how far the law suit goes or whether everything goes deafeningly quiet. I am not casting aspersions, but unless he is just stupid, then you would imagine someone like Musk would be very able to find out a lot of info.

[tingtongtourist]

3 minutes ago, Formaleins said:

A strange thing for Musk to come out with, unless he knows more than us? It sometimes makes you wonder. Just keep watching the news and see how far the law suit goes or whether everything goes deafeningly quiet. I am not casting aspersions, but unless he is just stupid, then you would imagine someone like Musk would be very able to find out a lot of info.

He said he would bet a signed dollar on it. 

 

Because he is such a pompous สrse, im sure If he had proof he could not to stop himself from saying or hinting to it

[thaikahuna]

Clearly, Mr Musk has allowed his mouth to write a check his ass cannot cash...

[impulse]

7 minutes ago, thaikahuna said:

Clearly, Mr Musk has allowed his mouth to write a check his ass cannot cash...

 

Maybe not his butt.  But I have no doubt he can cover whatever check he wrote here.

 

TESLA stock goes up and down on 100 variables, many of them manufactured by the guys shorting the stock.  As someone else posted earlier, it may just be the drop in the price of oil. 

 

Of course, the talking heads have to come up with some kind of reason, or they wouldn't be talking heads very long.  I'm sure they get maximum clicks (and revenue) if it's a juicy reason.

 

[impulse]

2 hours ago, keeniau96 said:

The Brit divers were the real heroes of the rescue without disparaging the great sacrifice made by the Thai SEAL.

 

Musk showed his blatant ignorance of the facts of the situation and compounded it with the insult of a good man. Clearly he had never dived in a cave, which has absolutely no similarity to boring horizontal holes in rock, driving cars or shooting objects into space. He and consequently Tesla has lost much face in Thailand.

 

 

There were 1000 team members.  Had the Brits' rope been 50' longer or shorter, someone else may have been the one to find the kids.  That doesn't take away from their contribution, but neither does the fact that they happened to be the ones on assignment at the moment the kids were found diminish the contribution of hundreds of others.

 

If someone real smart hadn't called in the anesthesiologist, the ending could have been very different.  And if the original plan to delay the rescue for up to 4 months been followed, I have no doubt the TESLA team could have dialed in a workable solution in that time frame.  At least they were working on a Plan B.  That it wasn't required, and changing plans didn't give them enough time to perfect their plan, doesn't negate the credit they deserve for their efforts.

 

Edit:  I'd also add that, had cooler heads not prevailed and negotiated an immunity agreement for some of the foreigners involved, the ending may have also been very different.  And none of that was a given when the TESLA team started their development efforts.

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by impulse

[hashmodha]

Hey folks.... relax!...only 2Billion wiped out.....when it is 10-15Billion,then cookie will do a break dance!

[DM07]

....aaaaaand here we go!

The boys are out, now let the real idiocy unfold!

 

So...Musk offers help with his technology - most of it proved to work fine: cars, rockets...you name it!

The diver guy - hero that he is- says this submarine would never have worked!

To quote The Dude "Well...that's just your opinion, man!"

We will never know, as ...thankfully....it did not have to used in the mission!

But just to dismiss it right away, seems kind of dumb to me!

The pedo- thing was definately uncalled for...

 

So if we all could just calm the #@$% down and be happy, the boys are alive and there was sadly/only one life lost in the effort, so that we all can go back to Happy Hour....

 

...I guess not and am waiting for more BS to come!

 

"Sad" to quote ...that other 'Murican... 

[mrfill]

48 minutes ago, ZAKY said:

It was in response of what Unsworth said! It is an argument between both! Both tried  to contribute to save the boys, one succeeded and one unfortunately reacted too late, nothing says that the submarine idea was a bad one. Anyway all these has nothing to do with Tesla’s cars! 

Is that the same Tesla Cars that is spending money at $6500 A SECOND? A very clever 10 billion in debt on a company that is failing to achieve output and whose 'totally safe' autonomous car goes on occasional killing sprees. And now we find the main man is a bitter, childish, ego-tripper who thinks he has so much money he can abuse a truly great human being and get away with it as the hero in question will not have the resources to keep greedy lawyers going for long enough to prove his case.

At least he is in for some more pain with SolarCity. Ha ha ha.