Elon Musk said Friday that Tesla will remain a publicly-traded company in light of outcry from shareholders opposed to taking his electric-car maker private.
“I met with Tesla’s Board of Directors yesterday and let them know that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public,” Mr. Musk wrote in a blog post. “The Board indicated that they agree.”
The 47-year-old billionaire business magnate made waves from Wall Street to Silicon Valley earlier this month after abruptly announcing on Twitter that he had secured funding to take the car company private, catching shareholders by surprise and reportedly capturing the attention of federal regulators.
“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured,” Mr. Musk tweeted Aug. 7, briefly causing the company’s shares to surge by more than 10 percent before trading was halted for over 90 minutes prior to the company issuing confirmation.
In the blog post, Mr. Musk said he met with shareholders in the intervening weeks and was told, effectively, “please don’t do this.”
“Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company,” he added.
“Thank you to all of our investors, customers and employees for the support you’ve given our company,” Mr. Musk concluded. “I’m incredibly excited to continue leading Tesla as a public company. It is a privilege.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission served Tesla with a subpoena shortly after federal regulators began investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr. Musk’s Aug. 7 tweet, the Fox Business Channel and The New York Times independently reported earlier this month. Both the SEC and Tesla declined to comment about the apparent probe, the reports said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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