Elon asked Google to buy Tesla for 6bil in 2013

[imherkimer]

I call BS on this whole interpretation of events in 2013. This is just gratuitous sensationalism spun to sell books. Contributes nothing of value and deserves no recognition at all.

 

[vdiv]

I call BS on this whole interpretation of events in 2013. This is just gratuitous sensationalism spun to sell books. Contributes nothing of value and deserves no recognition at all.

I think the extent to which the company was in trouble wasn't widely known and the importance of the folks ordering their cars at that time cannot be understated.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

I remember following Tesla orders/deliveries obsessively from Q3 2012 to Q1 2013, and at no time did I get the impression that people were bailing left and right on their orders. In fact, it seemed like people were horribly impatient to get their Model S. It's hard to believe it now, because Model S wait time is now something like 6-7 weeks thanks to a much improved production rate, but the wait back in 2012/13 had buyers wringing their hands and people posting pics ever time they spotted a Model S on the road.

On the other hand, I did work for a startup during the .com bubble, and I know that financial situations can quickly spiral downhill... and recover just as quickly.

Well, if Ashley Vance is correct, that pretty much removes the mystery of why George Blankenship left. Not handling the deferred orders, then not telling Elon about it, then having Elon hold an all hands executive meeting and directing all executives to dig in would be enough for me to fire the guy responsible for the mess.

I actually doubt this would be the case. Elon was never shy about firing people quickly. In the documentary "Revenge of the Electric Car" there's a scene where Elon says that people who aren't doing well or happy at Tesla need to "divorce" with the company (also makes a blunt aside about his own first marriage).

GeorgeB didn't retire from Tesla until the end of November 2013, 6 months after this alleged "crisis":

http://www.mercurynews.com/business...a-motors-executive-george-blankenship-departs

I also doubt that GeorgeB would have survived very long at Apple if he was the kind of person to drop the ball. Elon's a demanding guy. Steve Jobs was demanding and by many accounts a vindictive jerk (the story about berating and then firing MobileMe team members is legendary - "What does is this [MobileMe service] supposed to do? Then why the f' doesn't it do that?" is what Jobs is reported to have said).

 

[StephenM]

GeorgeB didn't retire from Tesla until the end of November 2013, 6 months after this alleged "crisis":
I also doubt that GeorgeB would have survived very long at Apple if he was the kind of person to drop the ball.

Yes. And George attended the TMC Connect event last June, and was interactive and graceful with the flock of other attendees. He was all smiles and seemed to be enjoying his retirement. TMC Connect is not directly Tesla, of course, but that hardly seems like the actions of a guy who either got fired or was pressured to leave.

 

[Model 3]

GeorgeB didn't retire from Tesla until the end of November 2013, 6 months after this alleged "crisis":

Correct, but at that time I remember that I was wondering about where he had gone. We neither saw nor heard so much of him in the months before he quit. So I have no doubt that he was on the way out long before it was officially.