Tesla’s Elon Musk: “I ran out of cash”
venturebeat.com
venturebeat.com
It's a float issue. not like he's totally broke or financially incapable of taking future risks in his capacity with Tesla.
http://moschus.livejournal.com/140610.html
"For those who want to know the extent of my golddigging, this is what I asked for, from my ex-husband and the father of my five children Elon Musk, who is a billionaire* and utterly brilliant.
* albeit with cash/liquidity issues, which I would work with him to work around"
http://moschus.livejournal.com/141570.html
Suddenly, everyone is broke:
Check out her biblography!
I'm the author of three published novels: the dark
fantasies BLOODANGEL and LORD OF BONES (Roc/Penguin) and
the YA supernatural thriller UNINVITED
(MTV/Simon&Schuster). I also have stories in the MAMMOTH
BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE 2 and ZOMBIES: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE
HUNGRY DEAD. alimony and child support
6 million cash
10 percent of his stock in Tesla
5 percent of his stock in SpaceX
(and he retains all voting rights)
and a Tesla Roadster (I really, really want one...)
Would you take the deal?
Yeah, I thought so too, so I figured she must be really, really cool and grateful to be with such an amazing guy and have kids with him and an amazing life, so she wanted to keep it friendly and not try to take him to the cleaners.
Then I read a couple of her blog posts, and no, she doesn't seem like she wants to keep it friendly. So I was confused, and did some Googling:
"The case highlights an aspect of Orange County and other Southern California divorce proceedings that is not often publicized: the post-marital agreement (which is less well-known, at least to the public, than are prenuptial agreements). Justine contends that the agreement she signed shortly after the couple wed is "extremely harsh" and has asked the California divorce court to throw it out."
http://www.orangecountydivorcelawyerblog.com/prenuptial-agre...
So, maybe that sheds some light on it.
However, every real-world legal system since the beginning of time has put limits on what kinds of signed agreements between two people can be enforced as contracts under the law, and everyone who has run a multimillion-dollar businesses is aware of this. If the contract that Mrs. Musk signed was unconscionably unfair to her, Mr. Musk probably should not have drafted it in the first place.
Why does she deserve anything for his work?
I think her demands are surprisingly reasonable, with the exceptions being the stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, which I think Elon doesn't want to give her for understandable reasons (IPO Complications, Pride, etc.).
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374169
I commented on my personal views there -
"[Community property is fine if] no one stands to lose besides you, but I feel like it'd be personally pretty irresponsible of me to enter into a situation where divorce could ruin not just my business and life, but my staff, suppliers, clients, and people who count on me. Some people might say, "But if you have a great marriage and pick the right woman it wouldn't happen!" To that I say... Everyone thinks that way and quite a few of them turn out to be mistaken... I don't think my judgment is infallible, and I refuse to put other people's lives and livelihood unnecessarily at risk."
I'm starting to think there's a societal shift in that direction. LeBron James is one of the most successful and high profile athletes on the planet, has two children with his girlfriend while unmarried, and he doesn't get any flak for it. His Wikipedia page just says:
"James has two children with his high school sweetheart, Savannah Brinson. The first, LeBron James Jr., was born on October 6, 2004,[70] and the second, Bryce Maximus James, on June 14, 2007."
I think there's a bit of a generational gap. I see a line around people who were born roughly before or after 1970. People who came of age in the 1980's or later seem to be much less fazed by the idea of a man not merging finances in the traditional way.
I'm not entirely sure why, maybe some sort of view taking hold that you're doing incredibly important things, then the traditional economic marriage arrangement means you stand to lose a lot. Combine that with the fact that even someone trying their best and generally upholding their end of the marriage bargain can be divorced against their will and I think some people are seeing it as a bad arrangement to get into.
I think about this sometimes, but I haven't fully flushed it out in my mind. Anyone else have thoughts on the topic?
> ...even someone trying their best and generally upholding their end of the marriage bargain can be divorced against their will...
"No-fault divorce" could be called "unilateral divorce" since one party can dissolve the marriage regardless of the other's actions or wishes.
I see it as yet another thing that dissuades people from forming lasting bonds with each other. I wish I knew what could be done to reverse the trend.
Startups can definitely cause bumps in your relationships with others, including your spouse and a messy divorce with a large enough block of shares at stake in a startup can kill the startup, at a minimum it will kill the chance of finding funding until the whole thing has played out and that can take years.
Elon Musk is the best thing that happened to electric cars since the early 1900's, it would be a pity if this divorce caused that to be torn apart.
How does this all relate to SpaceX, is there any chance of fall-out in that direction ?
As for SpaceX, they almost certainly have a milestone payment after the Falcon 9 test flight in the next few weeks. That and they'd make a good investment for anyone who would like to use their services in the future, both satellite and manned space flights.
Edit: They are due $5m in payments after the Falcon 9 flight.
Of course, he ended up selling it to Amazon for over a billion, so it worked for him. Hope it also works out for Elon. It's a testament to how much he really believes in the company.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228705/fullcredits
Elon Musk ... Himself
Iron Man 2 gave me a new motivation for making my startup successful. "I want my startup to be successful so I can be in the movies some day!"
What's your source on this?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1...
I don't really see it myself, but I don't know much about Elon Musk. If I had to guess, I would've said Sir Richard Branson.
What is the risk to the public/shareholders?
Would his personal finances ever be of discussion in the boardroom?
Musk participated in every single funding round for Tesla, until the last one. The fact that the company no longer has a source of investment that it has depended on since its inception is pertinent.
And since Musk has so much money invested and such a big chunk of the company, I'm sure his personal finances have come up more than once in the board room.