Those who get caught up in the flash and hype that Elon Musk tends to inject into his various ventures may not realize that his major position in the tech sector isn’t always so rock solid.
Although he has most famously faced public ridicule for the unusual name he and Grimes gave to their baby and for inflammatory comments he made against a British diver who rescued youth soccer players from a Thai cave, he’s also had a history of running afoul of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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But while this is only one of the problems that his flagship firm Tesla has faced over the years, its recent economic performance has a way of making that seem smaller than it might be for other business owners.
And as we might expect, he’s found an unusual way to celebrate this turnaround.
Back in January, Tesla announced an annual profit for the first time in its existence.
As CNN Business reported , its stock has also surged by 200% in the months since, which puts it ahead of every other car maker in the world in terms of market value.
That’s helped by the fact that the company was able to deliver 90,650 cars this quarter, which exceeds the 88,400 it was able to move in the first quarter of this year.
And to celebrate these new successes, Musk announced that Tesla’s online store was selling a line of short shorts.
As he tweeted out, “Tesla will make fabulous short shorts in radiant red satin with gold trim.”
And in a particular stroke of goofiness, shoppers noticed that each pair was apparently going for $69.420
I say they “were” because Tesla’s entire stock of the short shorts has since sold out.
And based on the fact that Musk tweeted out “Dang, we broke the website” on the same day they became available, it was clear that demand for them was high.
So why was Tesla so keen on selling short shorts, of all things?
According to CNN Business , this was a way for Musk to thumb his nose at anyone who tried to “short” Tesla’s stocks.
Even those with little interest in the financial sector may recognize this term from the movie The Big Short in which its protagonists essentially bet their money against the vitality of America’s housing market in the years leading up to the 2008 recession.
But while they may have succeeded, those betting against Tesla in a similar fashion have some clear reasons to feel discouraged.
However, there are reasons why shorting Tesla’s stocks may not have always seemed like such a bad idea.
In addition to the fact that the company had only profited after a few quarters throughout its 10-year history (until January, that is), CNN Business reported , that Tesla tried to raise $2.7 billion to replenish its depleted funds by selling debt and shares of stock back in May of 2019.
Worse yet, its share price was low enough at the time that this didn’t work as expected and the firm ended up having to pay a $920 million bond in cash.
While this precarious position may have made shorting Tesla seem prudent at the time, it’s clear that they’ve had quite the turnaround since then.
h/t: CNN Business
