Elon Musk Seemed All-in on His Twitter Purchase in Tesla Investor Call

Elon Musk couldn’t cease himself from speaking Twitter, even when nobody actually requested. In the Q&A portion of a name with Tesla shareholders on Wednesday, the billionaire mentioned, unprompted, that he was trying ahead to buying the social media firm—regardless of the hefty invoice.

“I am excited about the Twitter situation because obviously I know that product incredibly well, and I think that it’s an asset that’s sort of languished for a long time, but has incredible potential,” Musk opined. And his eagerness in regards to the on-line platform is outwardly sufficient maintain him optimistic via the most important acknowledgement that, “myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now.” In Musk’s view, “the long-term potential for Twitter…is an order of magnitude greater than its current value.”

Musk has hinted (and tweeted) at obscure plans to remodel Twitter into his long-rumored “X,” or “everything app.” And in latest days the richest man on Earth’s meme-posting has framed the continuing, embattled firm acquisition as some type of grand scheme to return “free speech” to the web (together with Ye and Donald Trump).

Yet, for many of the previous few months, Musk has appeared removed from enthused in regards to the Twitter deal. Almost instantly after making his supply again in April, the billionaire started to have chilly toes. He accused Twitter of violating their buy settlement, by mendacity about its bot numbers. A whistleblower acquired concerned. Twitter sued.

It’s been a complete factor, and Musk’s more moderen U-turn again to finalizing his platform buy has appeared, at occasions, rather more about avoiding additional authorized proceedings and testimony than anything. Musk requested for the continuing trial in Delaware Chancery Court to be halted, and his deposition canceled, as a time period of the renewed supply. Twitter rejected that bid, however the case is on maintain till October 28, to provide the SpaceX CEO and the social media web site time to finish a deal.

But what’s occurring with Tesla?

The Twitter-talk was only a small portion of a bigger shareholder name to debate third-quarter 2022 Tesla earnings. So, right here is a few of that information:

The electrical carmaker reported a big profit at $3.3 billion, matching the document from this yr’s first quarter and greater than double the identical time final yr. Tesla can also be is pumping out 50% extra automobiles than it was final fall, manufacturing 365,923 automobiles this quarter. Fun reality: that quantity is definitely about 22,000 extra automobiles than the corporate delivered to prospects (which Musk blamed on logistics and transport points like “there weren’t enough trains [or] boats.”)

However, even Tesla’s massive Q3 revenue soar fell in need of analyst expectations, and the corporate’s inventory dropped about 7% consequently. Which isn’t tremendous stunning given the best way Musk talks in regards to the firm—throwing out lots of lofty promises that may doubtless be arduous to reside as much as.

For occasion, “I’m of the opinion that we can far exceed Apple’s current market cap. In fact, I see a potential path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined,” the CEO mentioned.

He additionally famous that, although his firm’s automobiles received’t meet the benchmark of true full-self-driving this yr (as beforehand promised), subsequent yr is a assure “without a question whatsoever.”

And, despite the fact that inflation and provide points are elevating Tesla’s costs and appear to be cutting into its forecast sales, Musk reported that he’s satisfied “we’ll have an epic end of year.”