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Comment by matte_black | Hacker News Reader

What on Earth is going on at this company?

Nothing. They’re just the focus of the media. Like shark attacks a few years back.

Anyone else notice that it's also specifically the Wall Street Journal trying to run this angle?

That's funny, the Tesla fans keep hating on Bloomberg. Could it be that everyone who writes critical pieces on their financials are hostiles?

Their stock is highly shorted.

I'm half tempted to start asking the authors of these pieces to declare any positions they have in the stock.

The people of import who are shorting TSLA (Chanos etc) aren't exactly working on a journalist's salary.

More importantly, the short interest has been high for ages, and TSLA has received a ton of positive press in that time, as well.

I'm not convinced the journalists themselves are shorting anything (though I'd still like to know), but I don't think it's an accident that journalists are getting tips over silly minor crap like someone taking a well-earned vacation.

In other words, I really don't think this kind of press silliness is accidental and "random Tesla guy takes vacation" isn't usually a hot news story.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire.

~ Goes into Gossip Mode ~

Is Elon Musk like "doing too much"?

Boring Company Tesla SpaceX Dating Grimes

~ ends gossip territory ~

I wonder if Google offer more pay or a "safer legacy"?

Or less stress. Or a mixture of all.

It's not exactly a secret that Elon is tough to work for. Think pointy haired boss who also happens to be a celebrity.

I think it's also likely a bit of a problem that, unlike pointy haired boss Elon isn't completely clueless. He knows enough to be very dangerous to his employees. As in he knows and (is correct about) what is physically possible, as well as "big picture business" possible. Whereas, he is not so good at the management aspects...

Fiscal reality is catching up with them. When people on /r/teslamotors (it's normally a non-stop pep rally about Tesla, sort of like t_d is for Trump) are able to be upvoted for presenting critical thoughts about Tesla's financial state you know something is happening. Also: see https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/

It would be sad to see them go but at the same time it seems like they sorta did their job: they have ignited lust for electric vehicles in the general public. Car manufacturers have responded and are shifting their production plans accordingly.

Or the person got a deal he couldn’t refuse. That happens in the tech space.

The analogy "a deal he couldn't refuse" includes a threat as well as an incentive. Or at least it has since the 70s.

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/an-offer-he-cant-refuse....

I did not write that because of this particular issue alone.

Since they are a public company you can actually read their financials on the interwebs.

Are there statistics out there that show Tesla's retention rate is higher than other tech companies or is it just hyped more?

The number of high level executives that have left in the past year is definitely abnormal.

  Chief Accountant, Eric Branderiz 
  CFO, Jason Wheeler
  Treasurer and VP of finance, Susan Repo
  Sales chief, Jon McNeill
  Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive
  Autopilot lead, Chris Lattner
  VP of Autopilot, Jim Keller
  Battery executive, Kurt Kelty
  Diarmuid O’Connell, VP of business
  Matthew Schwall, Director of field performance

I'm not sure I got them all right - I put this list together quickly.

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