quote:

Originally posted by Deqlyn:


Yes but amazon had few internet competitors. Telsa is competing with companies who already have successful exltra cars that YUGE. Toyoyta, Honda, Chevy, well under the 45k mark per car.

Amazon had to convince people to buy their crap online for cheap when no one else was offering it. People are inherently lazy so this worked.

Tesla has to convince people to buy their crap for more than what the other guy sells it which is widely available. Seems like a losing a proposition.

Amazon also made available many products that lpcal stores did not carry, or had carried but stopped carrying. I was fond of a brand of toothpaste, no longer made, that disappeared from store shelves, and ordered it in bulk packs from Amazon until manufacturing stopped. There was a shaving cream that went through the same thing.

Amazon came up with a very easy to use user interface. I use it mostly for Kindle stuff now but have bought all sorts of stuff there. I have also been an Amazon seller, where the interface is less efficient by far.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
"Elon Musk" sounds like a men's cologne.

Elon Musk por homme

That's what you find in Degeneris undies.

Let's not forget the money pit that is 'Solar City' Musk bought. Last I heard, Musk's companies had zero cash reserves and were bleeding money big time. And Tesla will never compete with the big auto makers. SpaceX? Who knows what will become of it.

I sold off part of the stock I owned, and the rest will likely go before long. I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel for most of Musk's companies. But I have enjoyed the gains I've made off of the stock.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Let's not forget the money pit that is 'Solar City' Musk bought. Last I heard, Musk's companies had zero cash reserves and were bleeding money big time. And Tesla will never compete with the big auto makers. SpaceX? Who knows what will become of it.

I sold off part of the stock I owned, and the rest will likely go before long. I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel for most of Musk's companies. But I have enjoyed the gains I've made off of the stock.

The gains happen because people believe the hockey stick promise, that very soon we will turn around and take off. Either they will or they won't.

Do you know where Amazon REALLY makes its money? The web / app hosting business. AWS is floating the rest of the operation.

I'm surprised Wall Street isn't screaming for them to split it off into it's own operation. The retail business are essentially holding back it's valuation.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by Deqlyn:


Yes but amazon had few internet competitors. Telsa is competing with companies who already have successful exltra cars that YUGE. Toyoyta, Honda, Chevy, well under the 45k mark per car.

Amazon had to convince people to buy their crap online for cheap when no one else was offering it. People are inherently lazy so this worked.

Tesla has to convince people to buy their crap for more than what the other guy sells it which is widely available. Seems like a losing a proposition.

Amazon also made available many products that lpcal stores did not carry, or had carried but stopped carrying. I was fond of a brand of toothpaste, no longer made, that disappeared from store shelves, and ordered it in bulk packs from Amazon until manufacturing stopped. There was a shaving cream that went through the same thing.

Amazon came up with a very easy to use user interface. I use it mostly for Kindle stuff now but have bought all sorts of stuff there. I have also been an Amazon seller, where the interface is less efficient by far.

Elon Musk is a scam artist. That’s how I look at him. He did better under Obummer. He knew how to align himself for a Gov’t subsidy.

He’s great at self promotion, little else.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Elon Musk is a scam artist. That’s how I look at him. He did better under Obummer. He knew how to align himself for a Gov’t subsidy.

He’s great at self promotion, little else.

I recently had a chat with a VC financial analysis who agrees with you. Musk will continue to be viable as long as people continue to buy the scam.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
"Elon Musk" sounds like a men's cologne.

Elon Musk por homme

De toilet...

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
"Elon Musk" sounds like a men's cologne.

Elon Musk por homme

De toilet...

Is that eau de toilette?

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
"Elon Musk" sounds like a men's cologne.

Elon Musk por homme

De toilet...

Is that eau de toilette?

lol yes, I misspelled eew de toilette....

Elon Musk playing the role of Francisco D'Anconia in

I have a friend who worked at the Tesla factory in Fremont. He recently quit, after about 9 months. He started looking for another job almost immediately after starting at Tesla. That place is a sweatshop.
There are a lot of medical calls there for people collapsing on the job because of exhaustion. Work weeks are routinely 60+ hours, mandatory overtime, mandatory Saturdays, etc. Turnover rates are incredibly high, I have another friend who is a recruiter, and he's constantly posting open positions there.
My friend that worked there made less than $20 per hour, and his job was to make the hoods for one of the models, not sure which one. He also told me he saw new hires walk off the job half way through their first day, because the amount of work, relative to pay, is just ridiculous.
Employees would get fired for being late just one time, or any other small excuse to get rid of people. When employees would get quarterly reviews, managers would use any little reason they could to deny quarterly stock options due to employees. Right before my friend left Tesla, Musk did a video conference thing for employees, in which he told them "I don't want employees who want to take a week's vacation with their families, I want employees who will be here, working".
That place is a total sweatshop, with massive turnover rates. They'll go out of business sooner or later. Makes you wonder about the quality of the cars too!

quote:

Originally posted by Twist18:
I have a friend who worked at the Tesla factory in Fremont. He recently quit, after about 9 months. He started looking for another job almost immediately after starting at Tesla. That place is a sweatshop.

There are a lot of medical calls there for people collapsing on the job because of exhaustion. Work weeks are routinely 60+ hours, mandatory overtime, mandatory Saturdays, etc. Turnover rates are incredibly high, I have another friend who is a recruiter, and he's constantly posting open positions there. ....

That place is a total sweatshop, with massive turnover rates. They'll go out of business sooner or later. Makes you wonder about the quality of the cars too!

Quality of cars? Like the Model S recall because of faulty steering?

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I’m suspicious that the business model always involved a Democratic administration with all that entails. The electric car industry being to important to the Dems to fail, and subsequent subsidies to keep Tesla afloat. Musk has always been adept at chasing subsidies.

^^^^^^This. Exit any investment position in it.

Bankruptcy for Tesla is all but certain.

"Mounting financial pressures, in addition to the Model 3 shortfalls, spurred Moody's Investors Service's downgrade of Tesla's credit rating last week to B3, six levels below investment grade. " http://www.latimes.com/busines...-20180406-story.html

But at current stock prices, Tesla has a 25% higher market value than Ford.

Tesla Asks Suppliers for Cash Back to Help Turn a Profit

A car company whose focus is building cars that run on 'sustainable energy' is itself running on unsustainable energy...irony, thy name is Tesla.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Do you know where Amazon REALLY makes its money? The web / app hosting business. AWS is floating the rest of the operation.

I'm surprised Wall Street isn't screaming for them to split it off into it's own operation. The retail business are essentially holding back it's valuation.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by Deqlyn:


Yes but amazon had few internet competitors. Telsa is competing with companies who already have successful exltra cars that YUGE. Toyoyta, Honda, Chevy, well under the 45k mark per car.

Amazon had to convince people to buy their crap online for cheap when no one else was offering it. People are inherently lazy so this worked.

Tesla has to convince people to buy their crap for more than what the other guy sells it which is widely available. Seems like a losing a proposition.

Amazon also made available many products that lpcal stores did not carry, or had carried but stopped carrying. I was fond of a brand of toothpaste, no longer made, that disappeared from store shelves, and ordered it in bulk packs from Amazon until manufacturing stopped. There was a shaving cream that went through the same thing.

Amazon came up with a very easy to use user interface. I use it mostly for Kindle stuff now but have bought all sorts of stuff there. I have also been an Amazon seller, where the interface is less efficient by far.

This, I sure hope the government doesn't get involved, it'll be better for everybody if they don't.

AWS is awesome

quote:

Speaking of, where did all of the Solindra money go?

To the executives, their big $$ investors, and the DNC.

I believe it's been said that when he needs money for Tesla, he borrows some from Space X, etc. So it's absolutely in his interest to build several large companies, like the new one that is going to build high speed rail,etc. The more gov money coming in, the longer he can keep this thing afloat by shuffling a little money from this company to that company. Probably will end up crashing and burning (all of them) with him ending up a fugitive from justice or in prison for his Ponzi scheme.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Do you know where Amazon REALLY makes its money? The web / app hosting business. AWS is floating the rest of the operation.

I'm surprised Wall Street isn't screaming for them to split it off into it's own operation. The retail business are essentially holding back it's valuation.

This is one of those great things about SigForum - actually knowledgeable people willing to share their insights. I was ready to call bullshit on this as it didn't fit my impression so I pulled up Amazon's 2018 10-k filing.

For 2017, their sales were $106 billion for North America retail, $54 billion for International retail, and a mere $17 billion for AWS. Aha! I knew something was fishy. Then I went one level down and looked at their operating income and saw $3 billion for N.A. retail, a $3 billion LOSS for Int'l retail and $4 billion for AWS. While not quite carrying the rest of the operations, AWS certainly is the most profitable in percentage and absolute dollars.

Thank you, BBMW! I don't get that kind of insight from even CNBC.