In a replay of the tale of Hans Christian Anderson, investors, the media, and the general public are realizing that just maybe Elon Musk is not a high-tech Jesus who has come to save humanity. In fact, maybe he is just another sociopath with an over-inflated ego and too much money.
There was an excellent article in Business Insider which could be summed up in the tagline:
At Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk was a jerk with a grand vision. At Twitter, he's just a jerk.
Musk’s success at selling his ‘Grand Vision’ for Tesla positioned the company with investors as a tech company rather than an auto manufacturer. It also attracted customers in droves to a new and unproven brand. So even though Toyota sold 10x more vehicles in 2021 than Tesla (10.5 million vs 936,222). Tesla was valued at $1.061 Trillion at the end of 2021, while Toyota had a market cap of $252.84 Billion, ¼ of Tesla’s valuation. All down to Elon Musk’s successful pitch that Tesla was no mere car company, it was a high-tech growth play like Google that would disrupt the world.
That, however, was before Twitter. Just at the moment that Tesla was about to face its first real competition across its entire vehicle range, Musk decided he should remake Twitter in his image and take control of what Musk called the ‘world’s town square’. Musk’s tenure at Twitter has been a very public disaster. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine destroyed the myth of Russian strength and military prowess. Musk’s ongoing Twitter clown show has punctured the myth of Musk’s genius and competence. That is not just a problem for Twitter and Musk’s public image, it’s a disaster for Tesla.
You don’t see warm and fuzzy ads for Tesla on TV as you do for Ford and the other auto manufacturers because Tesla does no advertising. All of Tesla's public image is centered around the myth of Elon Musk. Musk got away with repeatedly making promises about Tesla innovations and promised product deliveries that Tesla engineers had no prayer of delivering. Fortunately for Elon, there was no real alternative and investors and the media were all in on the narrative Musk had spun. But Elon’s escapades at Twitter have blown up the enchanting myth of Elon Musk. Tesla is now one of many EV makers and Tesla’s competition is making cars that are more than competitive and have no divisive politics associated with them.
Since Musk acquired Twitter, Tesla has lost more than $700 billion in value. Tesla’s brand image has also taken a big hit, taking a nose dive in the last few months. Tesla orders are getting canceled and customers are giving Musk’s behavior as the reason.
“Around 70% of Tesla owners consistently said they planned to purchase from Tesla again when they needed another car,” KBB writes. Now, Pace says, the number has begun to fall rapidly. In HundredX’s most recent tracking survey, it dipped below 60%. The industry average is around 65%.”
Billionaire KoGuan Leo, who describes himself as Tesla’s third-largest shareholder and Elon Musk fanboy is calling for Musk to step down as CEO.
Investors are revolting and it could result in Musk getting removed from management and losing control of Tesla. Musk jumping into ludicrous mode has put his empire in serious trouble. Narratives built on one man’s vision and idol worship can come undone in the blink of an eye.
Musk looks ready to join Adam Neumann of WeWork and Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX as another tech bro with a messianic complex, selling kool-aid with a total lack of adult supervision and impulse control. Musk now has to contend with Tesla competitors delivering actual products (including cars produced by US union labor), so wildly exaggerated promises that never materialize won’t cut it anymore. Car makers want to sell their products to Democrats, Republicans, and anyone else with money. Alienating a whole segment of buyers is suicidal for a car company in a difficult economic environment and it really pisses off investors.
The world is beginning to realize that the emperor has no clothes. Thanks to the Twitter spectacle, customers, investors, the media, and the public are seeing through Musk’s 24/7 stream of BS. Musk lately is sounding less like a visionary and more like just another unhinged internet troll.
The Silicon Valley libertarian elite is a collection of adolescent sociopaths who see Musk’s abuse of his labor force as a model to be emulated. His new Republican buddies are also thrilled with anything harmful to workers. Musk is now down to his H1-B workers at Twitter who can’t leave their jobs as they would be deported. (Twitter, Inc. filed 1160 labor condition applications for H1B visas from 2019 to 2021) Musk can abuse them with 19th-century sweatshop conditions as they are essentially indentured servants. It turns out the new 21st-century robber barons are no different than the 19th-century robber barons.
Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and the rest of the tech bro fraternity… have become a clear and present danger to both the economy and democracy.