Elon Musk Says 420 Tweet that Led to $20 Million Fine Was ‘Worth It’
No regrets.
Elon Musk is unpredictable and that’s part of what makes him interesting. People will probably always want to know more about weed-smoking billionaires who are fine with losing millions for making a joke about getting stoned.
Musk famously incurred a $20 million fine from the SEC after a joke tweet stating he was taking Tesla private. In a tweet posted Friday, he appeared to express his feelings about the whole fiasco.
Worth it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2018
The “$420” in the infamous tweet was supposedly an inside joke aimed at his girlfriend Grimes, but it just pissed off Tesla investors and brought serious and unwanted attention from the SEC.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
It could have been worse, of course—financially, that is. But Musk and Tesla apparently don’t have reasons for worry when it comes to money. CNBC reports:
Tesla shares soared by more than 12 percent in premarket trading after the company reported a surprise profit for the third quarter as CEO Elon Musk made good on his promise to start turning regular profits in the last half of the year.
The company’s earnings report, released after the markets closed Wednesday, also showed better-than expected car sales and a faster timeline on its Model 3 production. The electric car maker said its midsize Model 3 sedan, which it hopes to produce on mass scale, was the best-selling car in the U.S. when measured by revenue and the fifth best-selling car in terms of volume.
The preceding was published Oct. 24, two days before Musk’s “Worth it” tweet.
Regardless of his attitude, it appears good sense or the Tesla board got to him after that statement, because he later posted this:
Signing off Twitter for a few days …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2018
It isn’t clear that the two are related, but Musk’s sign-off tweet was posted after multiple reports indicated the FBI is wondering if Tesla has misled investors.
Citing anonymous sources, a paywalled report from the Wall Street Journal said the Bureau is talking to past Tesla employees regarding possible financial shenanigans.
A Tesla rep issued a statement which said the company has cooperated with the only Justice Department request it received. It went on to say they have “not received a subpoena, a request for testimony or any other formal process, and there have been no additional document requests about this from the Department of Justice for months.”
Everything is fine. Nothing to see here as long as Musk chills with a dime bag and some of his Teslaquila and stays out of the tweeting game for a while.
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