Elon Musk says some unwise things about Apple and their hires from Tesla !

As someone who admires Elon Musk hugely, and would actually take a real bullet for him, I was quite disappointed by his some of his latest comments about Apple.

1. Why say bad stuff about your former employees? How will current employees feel about that ? I cannot believe that this is wise, respectful, or helpful in any way for recruiting or retaining great engineers. Calling Apple the graveyard for Tesla engineers who could not make it at Tesla! Were ALL Apple hires actually fired by Tesla? If not, could there be lawsuit here by one of the former Tesla engineers ? You think those humans who went to work at Apple have zero friends at Tesla who care about them and their friendship ? Come on Elon....think for heaven's sake !! Is all this money and net worth going to your head and your ego?

Apple has money and muscle, they could be upset by what Musk just said and offer $10 million signing bonus to his absolute best engineers and a ton of stock options, and even a guaranteed 5 year contract and blow $ 50 million without batting an eye?

What will Elon Musk then do ? Want to play chess with Apple's cash hoard ?

2. Trying to call out the Apple Watch, the new large iPad and the stylus etc as examples of no real innovation is something that I agree with......but given they are both Silicon Valley companies, and Apple is nowhere near taking any business from Tesla from any of their current products, in terms of revenues, that was totally unnecessary , in my opinion.

It will piss off a lot of people at Apple, and they will now be more determined.

Why go stoke people who have deep pockets ? What do you gain ? What exactly is the risk- reward calculation here? I'd say that was definitely NOT smart, for a strategic guy, who is also a very shrewd businessman, Elon, sorry but that was not thought through !

I think Elon does need a vacation. I think he is super stressed out and it shows ...with the crying and the rest of this stuff.... in the other recent interviews !!

I strongly suggest Tesla FOCUS on their work!!! We are your investors! Elon Musk you have fiduciary duty to us !

1. Get the Model X production issues solved .

2. Get the Gigafactory up and running and launch the energy storage business.

3. Unveil the Model X and Y

and take the HIGH ROAD !!!

I totally agree with everything else that Elon said, for example, Apple can't exactly outsource the production of a car to a supplier like Foxconn. I think Apppe will fail if they try to manufacture a car!

I believe Tesla has a huge opportunity to be a huge company and this kind of idiocy is just not something I expected from someone of Elon's intellectual and strategic caliber ....or wisdom !

evme said:

I think Musk knows full well what Apple is doing, the media does not. And they throw their speculation in his face which pisses him off.

Simply put I think the media is speculating way ahead of themselves. Personally I don't think Apple is building what most of the media thinks they are building.

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I agree with the above as well.

But, that is NOT the point !

Saying such bad things about your former engineers is never helpful ! I've had many execs I worked with who went to work for competitors and they were my friends too! If my CEO said stuff like that about my former friends I would not be happy. Yes, we are all hired help, but why insult people in public ? Elon himself said that Apple paid $200 K signing bonuses to some engineers...I doubt Apple did that AFTER that engineer was fired by Tesla!

If Apple indeed was NOT building a car ( which I don't think they are ) , why say this kind of stuff to piss them off ? So, Apple can take $20 - $ 30 Billion of their cash stuck in Europe and create a JV with BMW or Mercedes ?

Why not take the high road ? Where is the risk- reward calculation in saying stuff like that when Apple has like $ 150 Billion in cash and you are burning over $ billion a year and not generating any cash yet ?

Just simply in terms of business strategy and game theory applied to the human aspect in all of this, I believe this was NOT smart and will NOT achieve anything positive for Tesla, its employees, customers or investors !

Maybe someone can explain how this is positive ?

Krugerrand said:

Where do you make the connection that these former engineers where 'execs'? And what does one employee being friends with a former employee have to do with 'business'? You sound as if a CEO is viewed as an employee's friend and thus needs to protect feelings where former employees (who were fired) are concerned.

Your doubt about Apple offering more money to fired Tesla employees is interesting. So Elon is lying AND purposely trying to make the other team angry? Meh. That's not how he thinks. But he is an excellent strategist and game player. He's several steps ahead of everyone else and has shown that time and again.

You're obviously a much nicer, kinder person but I think you've blurred some employee, former employee and CEO lines.

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I did not say that the former Tesla engineers were executives.

As for Apple hiring Telsa engineers Elon is the one who said a few months ago that Apple was offering $200 K bonuses and doubling their salaries. I doubt Apple offered that to an engineer who was fired from Tesla. It just does not compute !

I do think if Apple does try to build an EV they may try a JV with BMW or Mercedes, probably the former.

And Apple could easily drop $30 Billion cash into a JV and lock up some battery supplier contracts and lithium too !

My point is ( if as I believe APPLE is not actually looking to build an EV themselves ) , why goad them into a huge JV with BMW ? How does that help TESLA investors ??

Krugerrand said:

But you put these sentences together. Saying such bad things about your former engineers is never helpful ! I've had many execs I worked with who went to work for competitors and they were my friends too! If my CEO said stuff like that about my former friends I would not be happy.



So, you're calling him a liar. And there is no inside 'Tesla Graveyard' joke.

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Huh ? About Tesla engineers vs, execs I worked with, it's a human dimension thing. You are taking 1+ 1 and making it 3 . I can't help that !

And, saying " it does not compute " or, it does not add up, is totally NOT the same thing as calling someone a liar ! I would never do that!

You can defend Elon as much as you want, I am fine with it totally, because I totally admire him immensely!

However, when someone is not being wise, I call it as I see it. I do not want to see Elon or Tesla knock in a 'own goal '.

Hey, I am a TSLA investor too ...just like you...in this forum,...and I'm here for the long haul.

I put Elon Musk as the number 1 person in the world who I admire the most. Having said that, I just think what he said was unwise from an HR standpoint or human game theory standpoint.

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Krugerrand said:

But you put these sentences together. Saying such bad things about your former engineers is never helpful ! I've had many execs I worked with who went to work for competitors and they were my friends too! If my CEO said stuff like that about my former friends I would not be happy.



So, you're calling him a liar. And there is no inside 'Tesla Graveyard' joke.

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Yes I would! And that's my choice. FYI, I am 100 agnostic and rational. In a hypothetical situation like that, I just would do I t because the world has more to gain from Elon being alive, vs. me. Same would apply if it was a young child. Just math and economic and other value potential over time of my worth vs. someone like Elon, or a young child, as another different example for rational decision making.

Anyways, whatever you want to me call is fine.