Elon Musk's Tweets Put Tesla Under Regulatory Microscope

A series of tweets that sent Wall Street buzzing have now sent the Securities and Exchange Commission calling on Elon Musk and Tesla.

The SEC is “ramping up” its investigation into the Silicon Valley-based electric car company, sending subpoenas to Tesla on Musk’s ambitions to take the company private, according to Fox Business on Wednesday.

It’s the latest twist in a week full of them for the Tesla chief executive. Musk sent investors into a frenzy last Tuesday, tweeting he was considering making Tesla a private company once again for $420 a share. “Funding secured,” tweeted Musk, adding to the belief a deal was inching towards the finish line.

Also Read: Elon Musk Joins #DeleteFacebook Movement, Erases Tesla and SpaceX Pages

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018

That tweet, along with several followup tweets on the plan, halted trading of Tesla shares on the Nasdaq exchange. When trading resumed, Tesla had spiked 11 percent to $380 per share.

Musk explained on Monday he sent the tweets after a recent meeting with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund left “no question” a deal could be closed. That now appears less imminent than Musk had believed.

Also Read: Elon Musk Doesn't Have Time for 'Bonehead' Questions

The headline-grabbing tweets have agitated several members of Tesla’s board. “Some of his fellow board members delivered [Musk] a stern message: Stop tweeting,” reported the New York Times on Tuesday. Musk hasn’t acquiesced. He tweeted on Monday Tesla had secured Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake as financial advisors on the privatization plan — although the Times reported neither firm had actually signed an agreement yet.

The tweets have now put Musk in the SEC’s crosshairs. Tesla’s share price has since dropped to where it was before Musk proclaimed “funding secured” around $340 a share on Wednesday.

And if dealing with U.S. regulators and annoyed board members wasn’t enough, Musk also found himself denying earlier this week what rapper Azalea Banks said — that he tweets “on acid.”

7 Rad Projects Elon Musk Has Worked On (Photos)

Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.
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Pay Pal

Musk made his initial fortune thanks to PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. He made a cool $165 million off the deal.
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Tesla Motors

Instead of buying an island and living the high life after the PayPal sell, Musk went to work on getting the world off its dependency on oil. He founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.) in 2003, taking over an old Toyota-General Motors manufacturing plant in the Bay Area. The slick electric cars can travel 250 miles without a charge and sell for upwards of $100,000. Its "mass" car, the Model 3, is due out in 2018.
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Space X

Perhaps the project most important to Musk is SpaceX. Founded in 2002, the rocket company has worked with NASA on several launches. SpaceX made history when it developed "recycled" rockets that are able to be launched, landed and reused. Even more ambitious, Musk wants to send manned missions to Mars within the next decade... and colonize the red planet.
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Hyperloop

Musk frequently travels back and forth between NorCal and SoCal, and he wants to do it quickly. Enter Hyperloop, where passengers will be put in pods and shot through tubes connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles at speeds of up to 760 miles per hour. Musk sketched the concept in 2013, and it's now being pursued by a group in L.A. full-time.
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Neuralink

Musk is also big on artificial intelligence and hopes to find a way to directly connect humans to machines. That's where his Neuralink comes in. Co-founded by Musk in 2016, the company aims to integrate our minds with AI advancements via chip implants.
Via @nbashaw on Twitter
The Boring Company

The Boring Company aims to alleviate traffic by building an underground network of tunnels. Cars would be able to latch on to giant sleds and zip through tunnels at 125 mph or passengers can take futuristic glass buses if they want.
The Boring Company
SolarCity

Founded by Musk's cousins in 2006, SolarCity is the second-largest provider of solar panels in the USA. Musk owned 22 percent of its shares when Tesla bought-out the company for more than $2.5 billion in 2016.
Tesla Inc.

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The real-life Tony Stark is the poster boy for Silicon Valley entrepreneurship

Elon Musk has been at the forefront of Silicon Valley innovation for two decades. The South Africa-born entrepreneur has been linked to a number of high-profile, intriguing ventures... so let's take a look.

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7 Rad Projects Elon Musk Has Worked On (Photos)

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