Reward 500 Tiger-coinsHBD to Elon Musk! Born on June 28, 1971, Musk majored in physics as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995, he started his first business founding a company called Zip2.
Four years later, in 1999, Zip2 was acquired, earning him his first fortune of $22 million. He then launched his second venture and became an early partner at $PayPal(PYPL)$. Three years later, in 2002, PayPal went public and was acquired, bringing Musk a second windfall of $250 million.
Fast forward to July 2017, eight years ago, when the Model 3 officially started mass production.
While others were celebrating, Musk couldn’t even crack a smile. The factory could only produce about 2,000 cars per week.
Musk had calculated that Tesla’s break-even point was 5,000 cars per week. Only by reaching that production rate could Tesla survive.
Wall Street began shorting, predicting Tesla would go bankrupt within six months.
Many analysts doubted Musk could pull it off. At the time, $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ stock price was also near record highs, prompting short-sellers to pounce.
By 2018, Tesla had become the most shorted stock.
Not only were they shorting the stock, but they were also bribing insiders at the factory to leak daily data. They even used drones to monitor production and calculate Tesla’s weekly output.
With that information, they publicly challenged Musk’s claim that Tesla could reach 5,000 units per week, confidently predicting that the company would go bankrupt in less than six months.
Musk moved into the factory to prove them wrong over the next six months.
He installed large screens showing real-time production numbers. Whenever a red light came on, Musk would rush to the work station to investigate. After multiple adjustments and extreme cost-cutting, by late May, weekly output had risen to 3,500 units.
Musk found an abandoned parking lot and decided to convert it into a new assembly line. His team told him they couldn’t proceed without a construction permit. Musk snapped back: “Then fine me first. We’ll settle the paperwork later.”
On June 28, his birthday, Musk saw that the number on the production screen was getting very, very close to 5,000. June 30 was the final deadline he had promised to Wall Street. The factory was still running at full steam.
At 1:53 a.m. on July 1, Musk finally watched the 5,000th black Model 3 roll off the line. A paper banner hanging on its windshield read: “Car No. 5000.”
The bold promise he made to Wall Street had been fulfilled—after six months of sleepless nights.
Eight years later, Tesla has weathered its toughest days. Musk, by continuing to defy the odds, has become the world’s richest man.
Last week, the Robotaxi successfully launched. And today, on Musk’s birthday, a brand-new car is set to drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home—marking a symbolic leap forward for Robotaxi. Will Robotaxi successfully complete its journey on Musk’s birthday?
Despite all the controversy, Musk remains a remarkable innovator and entrepreneur. Let’s hope we can all, like Musk, reach our goals after overcoming adversity.
Comment below:
Musk is known for making big promises and ultimately delivering.
Can you still believe that Musk, eight years from now, will still be grinding toward new goals?
If you were Musk, would you wish to go back and not support Trump’s campaign? Or would you reconcile with him?
Would you wish to fast-track the building of a Martian settlement?
Or maybe you don’t believe in making wishes at all and would rather wait in the factory for good news from Robotaxi?
Anyway, let’s wish Elon Musk a happy birthday!
REWARDS
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Comments
As the US market gets increasingly expensive, I have shifted my focus to the China and HK markets where valuation is still cheap. However, the past few years have taught me that China/HK markets do better to trade than to invest as the volatility is most times unexplained by fundamentals but market’s confidence. So, I swing traded popmart and mixue this year as I feel that trends can’t be fought against and as long as there are many willing stock buyers and consumers, the stocks would do well. As of now, I’ve exited both positions as the china government’s potential crackdown on blind boxes can be hurtful for the popmart stock price even if the market is a global one. Mixue’s upside can be limited as competition intensifies.