‘Automaker Tesla to remain a public company’

NEW YORK: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company would continue to be publicly traded, weeks after suggesting that he would take the pioneering electric carmaker private. Musk met Tesla’s board of directors “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 the shares have fallen more than 20% since. 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. Tesla shares tumbled on reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Musk to talk about the tweet. Normally such a major announcement - taking a huge company private - would be explained in detail beforehand to regulators. Musk said that based on his talks with 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.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2018.

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