ZCZC
BCN-16
US-AUTOMOBILE-TESLA
Automaker Tesla to remain a public company, CEO Musk says
NEW YORK, Aug 25, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Friday that the
company would continue to be publicly traded, weeks after suggesting that he
would take the electric carmaker private.
Musk met with Tesla’s board of directors on Thursday “and let them know
that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public. The Board
indicated that they agree,” he wrote on the company blog.
Musk surprised markets on August 7 by announcing on Twitter he wanted to
take Tesla private at $420 a share. But shares fell more than 20 percent
since the announcement.
After the announcement the controversial entrepreneur came under extensive
scrutiny over his Twitter statements related to the proposal, especially a
claim that Tesla had “secured” funding for the move.
However, Musk said Friday that based on talks with current shareholders, as
well as an assessment by financial advisers Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs and
Morgan Stanley, “it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders
believe we are better off as a public company.”
Even though the majority of shareholders “said they would remain with Tesla
if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was ‘please don’t do
this,'” he wrote.
“I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it’s clear
that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially
anticipated.”
BSS/AFP/HR/1042