I like to start off the blog to say that I regretted selling my Tesla shares a few years ago. If I had held the 200 shares I bought then till today, it would have been worth USD 1 million now, I kid you not.
At that time, pre-split, I was comfortably buying and selling within the $150 to $350 range. Until the mad man surfaced and started his Twitter tirades. He hinted that he wanted to take Tesla private at $420 and funding had been secured. It was not really true and the SEC came after him. He fought back and Twit even more messages, like a kid trying to defy his adult parent.
I decided to hit the exit button after that as I had no clue what he would do next. He was like an unhinged man on the verge of a breakdown and living in his own La-La land. I was unable to evaluate the stock fundamentally by then. Then the epic battle with the shorts happened and it was squeezed to $900. It stayed there for a while before surging again to $2,000. Then Tesla did 5 for 1 stock split. The new price become $400 and it then moved to $1,000 recently.
Assuming if I held my original 200 shares, it would have been 1,000 shares worth a cool $1 million now from a $30k investment, a 33.33x times home run. I would have been able to use some of the spare profits to swap my old 10+ years old car for a new Tesla 3 easily. A lot of funds who shorted Tesla all the way up left a trail of blood in their battle against one man with a vision. At the same time, a lot of believers of Saint Elon retail investors have now achieved the “Fuck-You” money to retire, thanks to this genius.
I finally read the book on Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance during my Covid quarantine in Oct 2020. I wished that I had read it much earlier and be converted to a hardcore fan before I decided to sell my shares. It opened my eyes to why he is the way he is. His brilliance is to think big and bet it all. He was a systematic strategist who could out think anyone once he put his mind to it. No problem was unsolvable once Elon is committed to it. Failures were learning experiences for him. So I decided to get in again at $600.
His SpaceX story was also fascinating, plus the Solar City acquisition as well. How can one of the original founder of PayPal pivot into Space and EV cars so successfully? SpaceX also has Starlink that provides internet access via satellites. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he recently offered StarLink to them within a weekend!!! He just sold all his properties and now wants to travel to Mars…
His nonsense is part of the appeal of someone who has been there, done it and now become the richest man on earth. He anchored a recent SNL (Saturday Night Live) comedy episode and revealed that he has Asperger’s Syndrome too, a form of Autism. That is why his mind is wired very differently from you and me but that made him capable of doing the impossible with sheer mind will power – his superhero power. He was also teasing people to buy a shitcoin crypto called DodgeCoin in the show which many bought into his words, me included. That didn’t end well though, but he was just kidding…. 🙁
He is one of the biggest stars on Twitter with 82 million followers. He doesn’t care what others think and loves to tease and troll his followers for fun. Recently, he asked them if he should sell 10% of his shares. Someone suggested that he donate funds to solve world hunger. He pushed back to say that if they can come up with a strong solution, he will donate $6 billion immediately.
Eventually, he did sell 10% of his Tesla stock holdings but it was due to the stock options that were granted to him a long time ago which was expiring soon. The Strike price was below 10 when it was issued to him while the current market price last year was $1,000. He was immediately saddled with a huge tax bill which he had to exercise the options and sell them straight away. For 2021, he will pay $11 billion to the IRAS. This will be the biggest tax payment on record in history for an individual in America.
He loves to keep his fans from guessing what is on his mind. Being the richest man now with a $260+ billion fortune helps. He doesn’t give a shit to anyone, even the SEC. His brain is wired so differently that he cannot take a “no” or “cannot” as an answer.
This week, he dropped a new bomb again. He talked about creating his own social media company a few weeks ago and then became the largest individual shareholder of Twitter. He had ideas on how he wants it to be run to optimize its potential. He originally wanted to be a board member and then decided against it.
Then he announced to the world that he might as well buy all of Twitter and take it private for a cool $43 billion instead. Talk about the balls this guy has… He wants to share Twitter’s source code to the public and create a level playing field for the freedom of speech where all voices will be heard. Just like the Clubhouse room “The Million Man Marathon” which I listen to daily – all views are heard from all sides of the spectrum. And he wants an “Edit” button on Twitter too LOL….
As one of Twitter’s biggest shareholders, the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal stated his opposition to Musk’s takeover bid. And guess how Elon responded? With a Twit, of course: “What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?” – to the country that rank’s one of the worst in the world for press freedom. Ouch and bad burn… the irony is scorching.
Elon might have grand plans for Twitter, but he might also walk away if his bid is rejected and therefore earn a nice profit when he sells his stake. Absolute power corrupts? This will be the ultimate test – the new owner is the biggest customer/mouth piece too.
On the personal front this week, I finally had the courage to pull out an unsalvageable tooth that had been bothering me for years. Root canal and crown done previously could not saved it. Implants next.
I finally completed my NUS FintechSG course and signed up for an e-speed interview with a potential FinTech company on Wed. I think the 10 minutes session went well but let’s see what happens next. Looking forward to finally having a physical meet up with classmates next week after 3 months of Zoom classes. Then its off to New York for a break, thanks to my wife’s business trip. I will be back in May to plan the next steps of my halftime journey.
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