One of the reasons for Musk to try to go private was to avoid short-sellers and their effect on the company. Ironically, because of his actions, Tesla’s stock went straight down from approximately $380 to $260 as of today.
This led to people asking about the behavior of Elon Musk. While some would think that he would learn the lesson and stay quiet, he would later give them even more reasons to complain. Almost exactly one month after, on September 6, Elon Musk participated in an live interview with Joe Rogan, as part of the Joe Rogan Experience. In it, at one point, Rogan passes a joint to Musk, which takes a puff before giving it back in what has become an instant Internet meme.
Many screamed at Elon Musk for not acting like a CEO, asking him to stop his erratic behavior. Some even asked for the resignation of the CEO. But while many focused on a couple of seconds of a lengthy 157 minutes interview, we engage you to watch it, as it is a real intellectual delight:
In it, Rogan and Musk discuss the future of Mankind, space travel, cybernetic extensions of human beings, road traffic and more.
At one point, Musk reiterates that his biggest fear is artificial intelligence. As if he was a character from a Hollywood movie, he explains that he tried to warn the world about it, but that “no one listened.” He explains how he shared his fears with Congress as well as former US President Barack Obama. But, in a very down to Earth attitude, he goes on saying that nothing will happen until there are deaths. And that once a dramatic event will take place because of AI, then a commission will take place and later on regulations will be put in place.
At one point, during the interview, Elon Musk is asked what is it like to live his life? And he replies that he would not wish people to have his life. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Elon Musk was crying at times, saying that he takes pills (Ambien) to sleep, having spent his birthday working and apparently working 120 hours a week. Musk seems to have, at least at this point in time, a very difficult time. He even went saying that “this past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career.”
Musk is at a critical time in his career. While he tries to go to Mars and send rockets into space with his company SpaceX, Tesla is losing money every single day and has now $10.7 billion of debt.
Meanwhile, the other car companies do not really care about Tesla, as electric vehicles account for a mere 1% of global sales. We are still living in a world of gas-fueled cars and it will take a very, very long time before we see a drastic change.
Tesla is at a crucial moment in its history. The brand and engagement from customers is extremely positive, but now it is a matter of revenue and expenses. The question remains. Will Elon Musk succeeds in making Tesla a profiting company? Only time will tell.
