Actually, at the time of the loan, he could not have financed it from his own funds. He was worth about $325 million at that point I believe and had already committed about $120 million hard cash to SpaceX and similar numbers to Tesla.
There aren't any venture capitalists in those ranges, especially not for something as off the wall as electric cars or rockets.
Possibly equity financing from a variety of ordinary lenders or investment funds but would have been a major stretch. Don't know that there would have been anything like the appropriate equity for collateral.
So it was a pretty speculative loan for the government. The fact that the others all failed is not surprising; in the VC world the typical ratio is about 1 out of 10 succeeding. But the typical investment for those is a maximum of about $30 million.
The comment that the government has no business in this business I agree with. Where the hell do they get off using our money to fund competitors? The standard answer is "we gave it to everyone"...but that means nothing. Every guy with a garage and a design is a potential competitor.
I'm simply saying Tesla went with something because they could. The fact that Musk maximised the value of it is a testimony to his own ability, and no one should think the guy's a fool or a dreamer.
Fisker designed a beautiful car and the power train is not bad either. He just has no idea about the real Engineering behind building something - he's an Art School design type!
Musk has a real understanding of who he's hiring for what. He doesn't hire frauds. That's been his real genius. One guy can't do it alone, unlike the silly Ironman movies which are based loosely on him.
Agreed, although I thought the Iron Man stories were based on Tony Stark’s life. ;-]