They're still profitable, and likely will be again this quarter. They also have ~$30B in the bank. Their stock price is in serious trouble, but the company itself has several years of runway.
Also, their products are feeling dated, their designs do not look futuristic, they look simplistic, the design choice for their UI to rely on a single tablet for cost-cutting is getting backlash after other manufacturers tried to copy that and roll out in their own product lines.
There's nothing in Tesla's products that gives them any major differentiator over competitors, it's just brand recognition, a few super fans, and a lot of empty promises from Musk.
I just can't imagine what would make investors sell at this point, I think they all know it's overvalued but the moment they try to run from it they'll lose money, not from TSLA directly but from the impact TSLA has on the index as one of the major components, so there's this hot potato dancing around financial circles to try to save face.
Just shows how detached to any fundamentals the stock market has become...
I don't see "kleptocracy" happening. At least, not to Musk's benefit, so far. I think that it's more likely that Musk was in good faith trying to improve the government, at the expense of his own wealth. He's just marching to his own drummer.
He is literally dealing with himself when Starlink and SpaceX are getting government contracts. Or rather, agencies trying to curry favor with him and president (or trying to avoid their wrath) have to give them contracts. Same goes for Tesla.
Also, there is literally zero to suggest he was "good faith trying to improve the government". He was buying political influence so that he can make changes beneficial for him and damaging for those he looks down at. That is not the same.
> Elon Musk appears to be laying the groundwork to privatize some space and satellite operations now under the authority of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), or steer lucrative contracts toward his SpaceX and Starlink companies, former agency employees say.
> They’re sounding the alarm as at least four other federal agencies have reportedly begun pushing new contracts toward Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company.
> In the wake of a firing spree that gutted some NOAA space operations, Donald Trump Jr’s investment firm stoked speculation by purchasing $50M worth of SpaceX shares.
> On Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal, according to a source with knowledge of the FAA and two people briefed on the situation. The sources note that these internal directives have mostly, if not entirely, been delivered verbally — which they say is unusual for a matter like this.
┕ https://archive.is/BQosk
https://www.ft.com/content/0ebcec51-2a5a-4820-99e8-1e500370f... ("Tesla suffers worst quarter since 2022 as deliveries tumble")
┕ https://archive.is/oeBUY