Sunday, September 15, 2024

Why Elon Musk will not take SpaceX public.

 Link.

 Musk said his experience as chairman of electric-powered automobile manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc. of Palo Alto, California, whose stock trades on the U.S. Nasdaq market, has taught him a lesson about the fickleness of investors.

“With Tesla in any given week, it’s like dealing with a manic-depressive,” Musk said of the auto company’s roller-coaster stock price.

“I think we won’t take SpaceX public for quite a long time,” Musk said. “When we’re doing regular flights to Mars, that might be a good time to go public. But before then, because the long-term goals of SpaceX are really long term – it takes a long time to build a city on Mars – that doesn’t match with the short-term time frame of public shareholders and equity managers.

You have to like the attitude. Not needing investors. Not having a salary tied to short term share price. It must feel good.