Tesla CEO Elon Musk Announces Company Will Remain Public
After flirting with the possibility of taking Tesla private, CEO Elon Musk announced last Friday that the electric-car maker will remain a publicly traded company.
Musk penned a new blog post on the company’s website explaining his decision not to take Tesla private once again. The company launched its initial public offering in 2010. He first tweeted his intention to take the company private two weeks ago at $420 per share and declared the company had secured funding for the move.
However, Musk explained in the blog post that taking the company private would be “even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated.” Instead, the CEO said he will focus on continuing to ramp up Model 3 electric car production with the goal of profitability. Musk added that the majority of Tesla shareholders were in favor of a public company. Private status would limit the how much some entities could invest, according to the Tesla boss.
SEE ALSO: 2018 Tesla Model 3 Review
Musk made it clear he still believes there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private, though. He made his final decision in front of Tesla’s board of directors last Thursday, who agreed to keep the company public.
The rollercoaster series of events hasn’t been without controversy. The Securities and Exchange Commission quickly swooped in to probe Musk’s “funding secured” announcement via Twitter before any regulatory filings or board announcement. Tesla has since received inquiries from the SEC to investigate possible stock manipulation.
A version of this story originally appeared on Hybrid Cars.
More by Sean Szymkowski
Comments
Join the conversation