Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, could help fund a bid to take electric car company Tesla Inc private, the New York Times reported on Thursday, quoting people familiar with the matter.
Musk startled Wall Street last week when he said in a tweet he was considering taking the auto company private for US$420 per share and that funding was “secured.”
He has since said he is searching for funds for the effort.
Musk on Monday said that the manager of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had voiced support for the company going private several times, including as recently as two weeks ago, but also said that talks continue with the fund and other investors.
The New York Times report said another possibility under consideration is that SpaceX would help bankroll the Tesla privatization and would take an ownership stake in the carmaker, people familiar with the matter said.
Musk is the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the rocket company. In a wide-ranging and emotional interview with the New York Times Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, described the difficulties over the past year for him as the company has tried to overcome manufacturing issues with the Model 3 sedan.
“This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he said. “It was excruciating.”
The loss-making company has been trying to hit production targets, but the tweet by Musk opened up a slew of new problems, including government scrutiny and lawsuits.
The New York Times report said efforts are under way to find a No. 2 executive to help take some of the pressure off Musk, people briefed on the search said.
Musk has no plans to relinquish his dual role as chairman and chief executive officer, he said in the interview.
Musk said he wrote the tweet regarding taking Tesla private as he drove himself on the way to the airport in his Tesla Model S.
No one reviewed the tweet before he posted it, he said.
He said that he wanted to offer about a 20 percent premium over where the stock had been recently trading, which would have been about US$419. He decided to round up to US$420 — a number that has become code for marijuana in counterculture lore, the report said.
“It seemed like better karma at US$420 than at US$419, but I was not on weed, to be clear,” he said. “Weed is not helpful for productivity. There’s a reason for the word ‘stoned.’ You just sit there like a stone on weed.”
Some board members have told Musk to lay off Twitter and rather focus on operations at his companies, people familiar with the matter said in the report.
To help sleep, Musk sometimes takes Ambien, which also concerns some board members, since he has a tendency to conduct late-night Twitter sessions, a person familiar with the board said.
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