Posted on 02/23/2021 6:26:44 PM PST by SeekAndFind
To borrow from an old Jim Croce song, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, and you don’t mess around with Elon Musk. Particularly if you’re the Washington Post and you’re owned by Jeff Bezos, the erstwhile richest guy on the planet.
Did I mention the top spot currently belongs to the aforementioned Mr. Musk?
As our friends over at Twitchy noted, you’d think by now WaPo would know better than to purposely tangle with Musk. The two richest people on the planet — Musk currently sits on top with an estimated net worth of $197 billion, with Bezos in the two-spot at $182 billion, as updated by Investopedia on January 19 — have been at one another for years.
Our story begins with WaPo on Tuesday publishing a less-than-flattering piece about Musk, as it relates to Tesla, titled “Elon Musk moved to Texas and embraced celebrity. Can Tesla run on Autopilot?” with the subhead: Investors fear a world where Musk no longer leads the company. But his attention is already going elsewhere.”
Game on.
Elon Musk moved to Texas and embraced celebrity. Can Tesla run on Autopilot? https://t.co/IyubUhSEMt
— Post Business (@washpostbiz) February 23, 2021
Here are a few excerpts — for “color,” as they say.
Elon Musk says he is stretched too thin.
Twice in a matter of days recently, the 49-year old complained of what he called an “insane” work schedule, juggling responsibilities with his car company and aerospace firm and taking in “torrents of information” in wall-to-wall meetings.
But critics say the rigors of Musk’s personal schedule, and the seeming cult of personality that has developed around him, are beginning to show in the car company he runs — the one that he took from an upstart pioneer in electric vehicles to the world’s most valuable automaker.
Musk, they say, is drowning in outside commitments like his aerospace company and other endeavors while letting quality — and strategy — at Tesla fall victim. And there are familiar concerns.
The Post then quoted multiple “proof sources,” no doubt selected to bolster the desired conclusion it came to before the first line was written. One of those sources was Ross Gerber, a Tesla investor and supporter of Musk, who is close to the company.
“There have been years past where some of his behavior was horrifying and had huge costs, especially from his little tussle with the SEC. And he’s come a long way. What I’m worried about is his success makes him a little bit loose again.”
In a regulatory filing earlier this month, the company highlighted the risk it takes by relying so much on Musk, reported WaPo.
“We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer and largest stockholder,” Tesla said in the filing, in language unusual for the way it cited a corporate CEO’s numerous outside commitments. “Although Mr. Musk spends significant time with Tesla and is highly active in our management, he does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla.”
And the following, from Ed Niedermeyer, author of “Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors”, the source of WaPo’s “cult of personality” reference:
“There isn’t a culture at Tesla really other than ‘let’s do what Elon wants to do.’ It [is] clearly reflected [in] Elon’s increasing isolation inside the company. He becomes more powerful and that power sort of isolates him more and more.”
In another example, WaPo went after Musk’s “public meltdown” during a Tesla earnings call in April — “raging against California officials’ shutdown orders in an expletive-laden rant.”
“To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist,” Musk said on the call, adding: “This is not democratic — this is not freedom.”
Amen, Elon — preach it.
The article took several more shots at Musk, and to be fair, included several acknowledgments of the success of the somewhat eccentric multibillionaire, but it was definitely a hit piece, Wapo-style, meaning “written in a professional manner while ‘subtly’ twisting the knife along the way.”
So imagine you’re Elon Musk, reading the article.
You’ve dislodged, at least for now, Jeff Bezos as the richest guy in the Universe, your car company is the most valuable car company in the world, SpaceX —your “rocket company,” as described by WaPo — has safely ferried American astronauts to the International Space Station and back, the first time that’s happened aboard an American spacecraft in ten years, and the newspaper owned by the “I’m number two!, I’m number 2!” guy, with whom you’ve had a running “spat” for years, does a not-so-subtle hit piece on you.
How would you react? Here’s how Musk reacted, via WaPo.
Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In response to emails seeking comment, Musk replied only: “
Give my regards to your puppet master.”
Game, set, match. Thanks for playing.
Quote of the day: "Give my regards to your puppet master [Jeff Bezos]," Elon Musk said in response to the Washington Post's request for comment on an article published by the newspaper today. pic.twitter.com/YItMCHiF2X
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) February 23, 2021
As properly called by our friend Benny Johnson:
@Elonmusk just Rekt Bezos.
Pretty sure that left a mark.
.@Elonmusk just Rekt Bezos pic.twitter.com/vkKh2Fk43x
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 23, 2021
A brutal beatdown in just seven words. Of Jeff Bezos. Impressive. Gotta love that.
As an engineer in the solar business I interviewed
with both Tesla and Sunpower
I chose Sunpower
I do love Tesla and I love Elon and he offered me more money but Sunpower’s got the worlds greatest solar panels with no doubt about it
Yeah, check out the other replies to my comments.
Some people ARE for sale. No wonder we’re in this pickle.
Musk’s income stream is going to explode once Starlink goes live worldwide. Potentially billions of clients around the world, even those in currently unreachable internet zones. He’ll be over 300 billion in another year.
RE: That’s not the more profitable division of Amazon. AWS is.
And AWS is the Amazon Division that de-platformed Parler because they were going to give Trump a venue to send his messages to the millions who follow him after he was banned from Twitter.
AWS is cool, but So is Azure, and all the other cloud providers. Especially if you are a startup.
However, if you don’t hold it you don’t own it.
I know people high up in both companies, and while Azure offers on prem “Azure in a box” where you can buy the hardware and platform, Amazon will not ever do this with AWS.
There is a reason all Kindles should come with a copy of fahrenheit 451
That’s not the concept that made him time man of the year 99 AWS started in 02 long after Bezos had become world famous
And there’s a pretty good chance Elon with his pocket change could fund trumps new media format giving people a chance at actual free speech
Musk has an incredible sense of humor on top of being brilliant.
I saw another recent troll of Bezos by Musk. An interviewer pointed out he was competing with Jeff Bezos. Musk replied, “Jeff who?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqGmyj00cY
Bravo! Great observation!
👍✋
Two great observations on a row... Fabulous 👍✋
Count me in recognizing Elon profited from the green deal, but to tell the truth, i don’t care. It was the law, he followed the law, and he made money.. Many more people did so as well, and it was legal. So call your congressman and complain to him, not somebody that followed the law.
Musk is a socialist that keeps getting mugged and little by little “woked” from those muggings.
Um, Elon is African. Born & raised in Africa. Now naturalized American.
He’s African American, more so than most “African Americans”.
Since when does color matter?
Do you accept tax deductions & credits offered you? Of course.
Unlike most green ventures, he wasn’t in it for the free money. Musk was going to make a car company, and that legislators offered him piles of cash was incidental.
Not beyond what was confiscated from me.
And, in fact, I am one of perhaps a small number of FReepers to never have accepted a’stimulus’ from any administration.
“Too bad he’s not a natural born citizen.”
Doesn’t matter anymore, neither are Obozo and VP Harris.
You don’t accept a unilateral refund of monies confiscated from you?
Elon is a good kind of crazy. Yet to be seen. So far, so good.
Each word you type exposes either the truth about you or your fundamental ethical deficits.
Keep goin’. Maybe - just maybe - you’ll learn something (but not at my expense).
You’re not making a point.
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