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Comment by mrep | Hacker News Reader

Holy shit. If the following qoute is to be believed, it's almost certainly the Saudis backing it since I don't know who else has that kind of money and also considering the Saudis hit the 5% investment mark which requires you to announce it at the perfect moment. Shit, with tsla dropping back down now and elon being quit, i think it helps the case more that it is them because I would want them to have the full opportunity to buy as much stock now while it is below 420$ before the buyout is confirmed.

"Musk previously talked with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund about a take-private deal, said one of the people. Saudi's Public Investment Fund bought a 3 percent to 5 percent stake in the electric car maker, The Financial Times reported earlier this week. It isn't yet known whether Saudi's Public Investment Fund has agreed to commit money to the transaction."

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Well, there’s one other I can think of: VW

Hear me out. VW announced $25B worth of batteries secured in March then followed up with an increase to $48B in May. The $25B went to Samsung SDI, LG, and Contemporary Amperax.

Leaving $23B unnacconted for.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/05/04/volkswagen-doubles-ev-b...

Whoever it is, Musk said that no one would have majority control. So it wouldn't be a takeover unless it was hostile. The recent action on the stock has made a hostile takeover, particularly by the Saudis, more possible because of the sheer number of shares available in the market. But if that was happening I don't think the stock would have dropped the way it did today.

Right, that in itself should have forced a squeeze. I'm not suggesting a takeover by VW, but a business deal. $23 billion for tech that builds the tech. Elon already said there would need to be maybe 100 GFs built, not just by Tesla. People have grossly underestimated the value of the path forward and VW has been coy about who the $23 billion is going to.

lol there won't be a short squeeze when the shorts know that the maximum share price will be $420.

that means that the shorts know EXACTLY how much money to deposit into their brokerage accounts to maintain the margin call.

that means that the shorts know EXACTLY how much money they can throw at doubling down in case the deal doesn't go through, getting their cost basis closer to $420 for a higher percentage short, than closer to $270.

Elon goofed.

Ofcourse its the Saudi's. Why? because Tesla can make their oil worthless. Strange times indeed.

Motivation has any of the big car companies, if US, German, French or Japanese. Saudi money is in many of them, esp. Daimler. Killing electric cars happened before, and most likely is the main goal here. They are certainly worried to death.

"Killing electric cars happened before, and most likely is the main goal here."

The reason I don't think this cliche makes sense, is because if oil is going to get more expensive, whether because of scarcity or regulation to prevent climate change, then demand for oil will go away. Higher prices mean less revenue at some point. So it's rational to try to diversify into alternatives to oil, because if you don't, no matter what you do, markets will induce people to develop them.

I wouldn't call that strange. That's perfectly rational hedging your investments which gives even more weight to why it is the saudis.

> because Tesla can make their oil worthless.

No, it can't. Even if 100% of cars and trucks were electric, Saudi crude wouldn't be worthless.

Instead of it being a main fuel source, would only be useful as lubricants, and plastic compounds until hemp is allowed to become popular for manufacturing again.

No, even if 100% of cars and trucks were electrified, light sweet crude would still be the feedstock for fuel for aircraft, ships, boats, trains, small engines (gas-powered tools, etc.), portable generators, and so on.

And that would be devastating for countries who are as reliant on oil as Saudi Arabia.

A more resonable assumption would be realizing this was the most expensive week joke ever made.

You don't joke about things that affect your companies stock price when you are the CEO and own 20% of said stock. He will face massive fines and possibly go to jail if he cannot reasonably back up his claims (like if it was a joke).

Temasek (Singapore sovereign fund) have the money to get involved if they want.

Softbank

The Softbank Vision fund is also led by Saudi investment.

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