I think that the fact that either Alphabet or Apple could easily buy Tesla in cash is a great reason not to short the stock.
Just because a few players are able to buy Tesla entirely, it does not mean that shorting a position is necessarily bad.
heck, that alone would be reason enough for me.
In fact, most corporations tend to spend cash for acquiring irresponsibily. At the beginning of any MBA class discussing mergers and acquisitions, they’ll cite the fact that the majority of these fail to produce the intended value.
Think about it - if you were considering buying the firm, what odds would you put on your first board meeting after being all about whatever the hell Musk got up to last week?
Just speculating, of course.
Jobs/Apple overhyped (and sometimes still do) features of their products, but never to the point of making promises they couldn't keep, IMO.
Prices kept increasing, features were overhyped, and the Mac ended up being better in most ways.
Also, in the context of the current discussion, the Steve that Tim Cook worked with was not young, reckless Steve, but an older and somewhat more mellow and responsible Steve.
Musk on the other hand will talk about cars one day, then solar energy the next, then the Hyerloop, then landing on Mars and making toy flamethrowers. The fit could not be more wrong.
Apple's acquired properties are quietly extinguished and replaced with Apple branding. Musk wouldn't have the temperament to play second fiddle to anybody else.
Beats as a brand is still around and producing new products.
It's quite common that the founders have special shares and only common stock is put up on the market at IPO time. (And early stage investors usually got preferred stock, but they usually exit at IPO time.)