Did Elon Musk deliberately mislead investors, Bitcoin is hiding Tesla's laments?
Suddenly and without warning, investors found the man of space rockets and electric cars had become a major player other than his field.
Where the genius Elon Musk, whose innovations have always caused widespread controversy, announced a great and exciting interest in the world of cryptocurrencies, and before them, with flooded stocks.
Elon Musk's statements about investing in Bitcoin, and before it, Dogecoin, coincided with his support for Gamestop, which recorded unexplained crazy jumps.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares recorded extremely strong price jumps, pushing them to all-time highs, inflating Musk's image in an unusual way.
But was it a mere coincidence, or was it the result of an investment vision of a billionaire, whose wealth-making became an obsession and a goal that he pursued relentlessly?
Or is there something in it and there was something the founder of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and the second richest in the world tried to hide about the electric car giant.
the beginning
Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted in early February that the quality of Tesla cars would be affected anytime the company dramatically increased production.
Musk said in an interview with famed auto industry analyst Sandy Monroe that Tesla was building cars so quickly towards the end of 2020 that they were spoiling paint jobs.
Tesla has received a lot of criticism for the quality of its cars, especially after it started making them in relatively large quantities with the Model 3 and Model Y.
"It took us some time to complete the production process," Musk said. Friends ask me: When should I buy a Tesla, the answer is either you buy it at the start, or when production reaches a steady state.
And while the Model 3 is now more than three years old, Tesla has spent most of 2020 trying to achieve an ambitious target set by Musk to sell 500,000 cars, and that goal appears to have led to more quality issues with the paint.
But during this production ramp, it's very difficult to be in the vertical climbing position and get everything right in the small details, Musk added.
Monroe asked why there were paint problems with the new Model 3, while another car built a month later was better, and Musk replied that Tesla had improved the paint quality at the end of last year, even during December.
Surprise
Today, according to US media, Tesla appears to have informed its employees that it will temporarily halt some production at its California assembly plant.
Tesla told workers on its 3-Series production line in Fremont that the line would be discontinued from February 22 to March 7.
Mad Tesla
During the past year 2020, Tesla's shares jumped more than sevenfold, up 700%, and Musk's fortune increased by more than $ 100 billion, making him, in a recent period, the richest in the world.
Tesla shares are recording those gains, although on the fourth it earned $ 270 million in net income, but that was supported by the sale of $ 401 million in regulatory debt to other auto makers who need to meet emissions obligations.
Tesla's credit sales have significantly exceeded net income for five consecutive quarters, and those credits may become less valuable over time, as the number of electric vehicle manufacturers increases.
And in early January, Tesla shares jumped to an all-time high, jumping to $ 880.
But Tesla's shares quickly declined to current levels of $ 740, coinciding with the CEO's interest in cryptocurrencies.
Elon Musk and the Dogecoin
No one would have expected Dogecoin to overwhelm cryptocurrencies had it not been for the tweet of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, specifically early February.
Where Musk tweeted on his Twitter account, saying: "Welcome," and attached the tweet with a picture of a monkey carrying a small lion, and as soon as Mask tweet Hello to the new currency, Dogecoin, its value increased by about 50%.
And it became the focus of attention of many investors and stock exchanges in the world, to record crazy highs that pushed the currency to its highest levels ever.
But it did not last long, as Musk turned against Dogecoin with a tweet as well, describing it as carrying a greatly inflated price.
Elon Musk and Bitcoin
However, what Musk did with Dogecoin was part of what the rich billionaire made with Bitcoin, as the Tesla CEO praised the digital currency Bitcoin.
Musk said in several tweets that owning a takween is slightly better than possessing traditional cash, but this slight difference makes it a better asset to possess it.
In another tweet, Musk added that when a fiat currency has a negative real interest rate, only an idiot will not look elsewhere, and that in formation is almost like fiat money.
Musk defended Tesla's move to invest in Bitcoin, saying the difference from cash made it a suitable venture for the S&P 500 company to acquire the cryptocurrency.
Tesla announced the purchase of $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin, which pushed the cryptocurrency to a record high above $ 50,000.
Heavy losses
Data from financial analysis firm Ortex showed, on Thursday, that short sellers were making an estimated $ 3.5 billion in profit from their bearish positions on Tesla shares in the past seven days.
Shares of the electric car maker were down 17% in the week through Wednesday, from record highs.
This came as Bitcoin, in which Tesla invested $ 1.5 billion, fell sharply to levels of $ 50,000, while it traded at the weekend at $ 58,000.
Elon Musk's losses rose within two days to about $ 30 billion, dropping from $ 184 billion to $ 155 billion, according to Forbes.
Elon Musk lost, in a few hours on Monday, nearly $ 15 billion of his fortune due to the violent downturns in Tesla's shares.
The next day, he lost nearly the same number, dropping for hours from second place as the second richest person in the world in favor of French billionaire Bernard Arnault.