They exist for every company. And the majority of them would have hedged their bets in some form so it's not like they are likely to lose substantial amounts of money. Tesla almost seems to be similar to Trump in that they need a fictitious enemy to distract the attention away from themselves.
Second, yes, they are probably hedged. But usually they hedge against correlated securities such as industry competitors so they can hedge away risk they don't want to take (i.e., they have a position against Tesla, but no position about car sales in general, so they hedge against the rest of the industry to protect themselves against economic growth raising all car sales). So if Tesla reports good numbers relative to the industry, it will absolutely impact shorts and they are likely to lose substantial amounts of money. What else would they be hedging with? Maybe their bonds, if you had some sort of complicated capital structure arbitrage play, but I haven't seen much of a case being made about the bonds being undervalued relative to equity.
Having said that, I think shorts play an important role in the economy to keep companies honest.
Auto comparisons are worthwhile, but equally valid are comparisons to companies of a similar age, not just established stalwarts (for better or worse).
I don't own any stock, but I have vested interest in seeing them succeed as I own a car that I would prefer not to see turned into a paperweight; of course, I have always recognized that this is a gamble I am choosing to make.
But I think Musk is a bit of a wanker and I have an allergic reaction to the hero-worship that's grown around him.
Which makes it difficult to have the discussion about Tesla-as-Tesla. Admitting that I have an emotional reaction to an individual is the honest response.
My policy, in your position, would be to just ban Tesla posts. When a conversation topic becomes repetitively boring, I ban it, as there are plenty of places to discuss Tesla or Elon Musk or any other topic.
(sorry)
But I find it amusing that people are so quick to point out his faults and criticize the guy when he's accomplished more in his life to date than any single one of his critics, with at most a couple exceptions, like Bezos.
Basically if he's a wanker, what's that make you? I don't think it's fallacious reasoning here at all to say that. Basically your standards for a non-wanker must be so high as to include almost nobody. I'm not just talking about his financial success, I'm talking about changing the world for the better with his companies, for raising 5 children, etc. The guy has his faults, but so do we all. If he's a wanker, than really who isn't?
In my estimation, most people are not wankers. I think we have different estimations.
And accomplishment is not a defense against wankerdom.
It makes any kind of discussion impossible.
Look at the person you relied to, his post is already grey.
The guy is kind of a wanker:
https://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a5380/millionaire-start...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/29/elon-musk...
Everyone just give him a free pass which is bullshit.
Personally I think the guy is a narcissist given how much he loves attention. Like most narcissists he will shit on you if you get in his way, right and wrong be damned - something to keep in mind.
So all we are suppose to do is sing his praises on this site?
On this site, please neither sing praises nor vent ragefully. Both are boring.
Every hedge fund will talk their book. Short, long or upside down flying purple sunblock, they will talk their book.
https://electrek.co/2018/07/24/tesla-troll-short-doxxed-oil-...