The automotive and energy firm Tesla Inc. creates, develops, produces, sells, and rents energy generation and storage technologies in addition to electric automobiles. Additionally, Tesla sells solar electricity, installs and maintains energy systems, and provides end-to-end sustainable energy products, including generation, storage, and consumption. Through a network of business-owned stores and galleries, it markets and sells vehicles to consumers. The corporation operates throughout Asia Pacific and Europe and has manufacturing sites in the US, Germany, and China. Austin, Texas, in the US, serves as the home base of Tesla.
Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning established Tesla Motors in July 2003. Nikola Tesla, an inventor, and electrical engineer is honored in the corporate name. With a $6.5 million investment in February 2004, Elon Musk rose to the position of the company’s largest shareholder. He assumed the position of CEO in 2008. Musk claims that Tesla’s goal is to hasten the transition to environmentally friendly energy and transportation, using solar energy and electric vehicles as the primary sources.
MODEL S IN 2013
Tesla spent years designing and creating its flagship Model S, but when it went on sale in June 2012, the vehicle still lacked a few features. Although it had superior safety features, software, and interior space to the majority of premium vehicles, it lacked rivals like BMW and Mercedes-parking Benz’s sensors and radar-assisted cruise control. Early purchasers were displeased by issues with the 2012 Model S door handle as well as several design decisions, like the car’s ugly seams on the sun visors.
According to lead designer Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla also struggled to win over prestigious suppliers. He claims that with regard to the sun visors, “We ultimately had to resort to a third-rate supplier and then work on correcting the matter after the car had already started delivering.”
Jerome Guillen, a former executive at Daimler, was given the task of fixing Tesla’s repair service and getting the company’s buggy vehicles back on the road by Musk, who also sacked senior executives and promoted eager junior staff members.
COLLABORATING WITH GOOGLE
Almost everyone was taken aback when Tesla Motors announced its first-ever quarterly profit on May 8, 2013, citing higher-than-anticipated demand for its Model S electric automobile. Elon Musk’s turbulent automaker began to turn around at that precise moment. The majority of the major prizes given out by the automobile industry went to the Model S the following year, and Tesla’s stock price increased by about five times, to move over $200. The disclosure of the 2013 earnings was accidental. Tesla had been on the edge of bankruptcy only a few short weeks earlier.
According to the two people with knowledge of the conversations, Musk contacted Page in the first week of March 2013. By that time, so many clients were postponing their purchases that Musk had covertly closed down Tesla’s factory. Given his predicament, Musk pushed for a tough deal. He suggested that Google purchase Tesla outright for $6 billion at the time, with a healthy premium, and provide an additional $5 billion for manufacturing expansions. Additionally, he demanded assurances that Google wouldn’t dissolve or shut down his business before it had time to develop a third-generation electric vehicle aimed at the mass market.
He insisted that Page allow him to run a Tesla that was owned by Google for eight years, or until it started producing such vehicles. Page agreed to the deal and was shaken by the full idea. The company’s stock price doubled within two weeks of that statement, and Tesla paid back its $465 million loan to the US Department of Energy early and with interest. Musk ended his discussions with Google. His need for a rescuer was over.
TESLA’S CURRENT MARKET VALUE
With that significant one-day gain, Tesla (TSLA) crossed the $1 trillion threshold. That market capitalization is less than half that of Microsoft (MSFT), which is ranked second in terms of value after Apple (AAPL) and is valued at $2.3 trillion and $2.5 trillion, respectively. Google parent Alphabet (GOOG), valued at $1.8 trillion, and Amazon (AMZN), valued at $1.7 trillion, are additional members of the trillion-dollar club.
Just over 12 years after its 2010 initial public offering, Tesla became the second-fastest corporation to achieve the $1 trillion milestone. Only Facebook (FB), which reached $1 trillion just over nine years after its IPO, did so more quickly.