Tesla CEO Musk becoming the Trump of tech tweeters.
There are few corporate leaders whomake automatic headlines with just about anything they say.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs was one. But he rarely spoke publicly unless it was promoting new Apple products. Jobs wouldn’t even deign to appear on Apple’s quarterly conference calls to discuss the company’s business results. And it’s probably safe to say that Jobs would have never allowed himself to get into arguments on Twitter.
Then there is Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO practically lives on Twitter, and it seems like rarely a day goes by when Musk isn’t tweeting out something. Sometimes, these can be just pretty simple statements about what he did on a particular day:
“Just finished an amazing 3 day visit to China. Theworldhas never seenhuman energy & vigor at such scale. Incredibly impressed with Tesla China team & potential for the future.” Musk tweeted
that out on July 12 after signing a deal to build a Tesla manufacturing plant in Shanghai.
But it isn’t those everyday statements that getMusk the most attention. And while Twitter may be the arena where many of Musk’s bestknown comments come from, it certainly isn’t the only way his words have made it into the public discourse.
Hereare sevenof thewildest things Elon Musk has said:
Tweet about diver in the Thai cave rescue
This onewould have been hard for the Thai boys soccer teamto miss if they had still been in that cavewhenMusk tweeted it out. On Sunday, July 15, Musk took umbrage at some comments that British cave diverVernUnsworth made aboutMusk’s efforts to aid in the soccer team’s rescue, and then Musk made a baseless allegation that Unsworth was a pedophile by tweeting out, “You know what, don’t bother showing the video. We will make one of themini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”
Musk followed that by replying to another tweet and saying, “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true” about his “pedo guy” tweet. The original “pedo guy” tweet was taken down not long after it was originally posted.
Musk later apologized, in a reply to someone else’s tweet.
Nuking Mars
When he isn’t running Tesla, Musk is also CEO of SpaceX, his space-exploration company. AndMusk has said he thinks trips to Mars aren’t that far off. Mars, at least for now, is uninhabitable for humans, and would need to be warmed up for humans to live there. And on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2015, Musk gave an idea of how Mars could be warmed up enough for humans to live on the Red Planet.
“The fast way is to drop thermonuclearweapons over the (planet’s) poles.”
Threatening to sue ‘Montana Skeptic’
This one just happened this week. Lawrence Fossi, who had written for nearly three years about Tesla on the Seeking Alpha investment news site under the “Montana Skeptic” byline, said on Tuesday that he would no longer write for the site, and would close his Twitter account after Musk threatenedtosuehim. Fossi, who also serves as managing director at the Stewart J. Rahr Foundation in New York, and handles investments for Stewart Rahr, said Musk contacted the foundation’s director of operations and threatened legal action due to Fossi’s criticism and analysis of Tesla’s business in his Seeking Alpha posts.
Time for women
“How much time does a womanwant a week? Maybe 10 hours? That’s kind of the minimum? I don’t know.” Musk was quoted as saying this in the 2015 book “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,” by author Ashlee Vance. Since then, Musk divorced his wife, Talulah Riley, dated actress Amber Heard for a while, and is now seeing Canadian singer Grimes.
‘Bonehead’ and ‘dumb’ analysts
Musk does participate on Tesla’s quarterly earnings calls, but if you have ever listened to him, he sounds like he would rather be anywhere else. And rarely was that on display more than back in May, when, on Tesla’s first- quarter conference call, Musk said, “boring questions are not cool,” and called an analyst’s questions about Tesla’s financial situation “bonehead.” Musk then went on to spend about 20 minutes answering questions froma YouTube viewer who had earlier tweeted at Musk about being able to ask him a question on the conference call.
Getting into it with Warren Buffett
If there is any investor whom anyone would probably be smart to listen to, it would have to be Warren Buffett. The CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway is often referred to as “Legendary Investor” Warren Buffett, after all.
Ah, but it takesmore than buying See’s Candy to impress Musk. And just days afterMusk’s colorful conference call performance, Musk was on Twitter taking shots at Buffett. During Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffett said, “There are some pretty good moats around,” and “Elonmay turn things upside down in some areas. I don’t think he’dwant to take us on in candy.” Buffett sometimes uses the term “moats” to describe investments that are defensive, stable and relatively safe.
Well, af ter Buf fett’s “moats” comment, Musk went to Twitter to express his thoughts about Buffett’s investment strategy:
“Warren Buffett is huge in candy. It’s true,” Musk tweeted. He then added, “Saying you likemoats is like saying you like oligopolies.” Musk finished his broadside by tweeting, “Then I’mgoing to build a moat & fill itwith candy. Warren B will not be able to resist investing. Berkshire Hathaway Kryptonite …”
The GOP-Sierra Club incident
The brouhaha overMusk’s baseless “pedo guy” tweet had barely subsided when it became public that Musk had donated almost $39,000 to a Republican political action committee called PAC Protect The House, an organization dedicated to preserving GOP control of the House of Representatives. After Musk’s contributions became known, he took some flak due to his stance on climate change being at odds with many Republican lawmakers’ views on the topic:
“Reports that I am a top donor to GOP are categorically false. I am not a top donor to any political party,” Musk tweeted.
Well, that might have ended the issue right there, except that the Sierra Club soon tweeted its support for Musk, and the $6 million he has contributed to the group. And then it came out that Musk reportedly got on the phone, called Sierra Club Executive Michael Brune, and asked Brune to give Musk a public show of support in order to counter some of the public’s reaction to his GOP PAC contribution.