Musk hits back at SEC as Tesla share price falls – The Wall Street Journal

DUBLIN — It has been a chaotic few weeks for Tesla (again). So far this month, Musk was warned by the SEC for allegedly violating the terms of his agreement with them, Tesla announced sweeping plans to close all its stores and go online-only, and Tesla did an about-face and said it would keep most stores open. Tesla also announced this month that it would be raising the prices on its high-end cars after lowering them in February and Musk is now wading deeper into his fight against the SEC. Most companies would have spread all that out over more than a few days. Unsurprisingly, the Tesla share price has ticked down from close to $320 at the end of February to around $280 now. Now, obviously Tesla is a young company. It's also doing something very difficult in attempting to build an auto manufacturer from scratch in a highly competitive and global market. But this type of chopping and changing must be giving investors whiplash. The core issue seems to be that Tesla is struggling to hit its production goals and churn out a few thousand vehicles a week (something most car manufacturers do every day). It's inability to scale up and achieve economies of scale has meant that it is struggling to be reliably profitable. The fact that, unlike most auto manufacturers, Tesla directly owns all of its dealerships and handles all of its own sales to the end user has added further complexity to the company's business model. Further complicating matters, Musk has shown himself to be a lose cannon, particularly on social media, which has meant a lot of unnecessary distraction for management and shareholders. Like most people, I want to see Tesla succeed. However, its current approach doesn't seem to be bearing the necessary fruit. It may be time for the company to reassess its strategy and management. – Felicity Duncan

Tesla's Elon Musk Rebuts SEC's Motion to Hold Him in Contempt

By Dave Michaels and Tim Higgins

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday pushed back against regulators, telling a federal judge he didn't violate a fraud settlement that restricted his social-media communications and suggested the government is trying to muzzle him.

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