Like a story you've heard many times before, it seems that the rich want to get richer, particularly Elon Musk. The tech billionaire threatens to take his contributions elsewhere, whatever they are, if he does not see an increase in his stakes at the company.
Musk Wants a 25% Stake
Tesla, being one of the leading EV manufacturers, has a lot of shareholders on its list. Still, the most recognizable and arguably the face of the company is Elon Musk. With that said, the CEO says that he would rather build outside of Tesla if his stake was not 25%.
According to Musk, he was "uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics" without having his preferred percentage of control. He added that 25% was "Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can't be overturned, as reported by Gizmodo.
Since AI is becoming increasingly popular and useful, this can serve as leverage for the tech billionaire when it comes to negotiations. As you might have heard, Tesla is already using AI in its systems, particularly its autonomous features.
The thing is, Musk used to have a bigger share in Tesla, but the CEO had to sell billions of his stock in the company to be able to buy arguably one of his most regrettable acquisitions, Twitter. Still, he has one of the biggest shares in the company.
It's not just the cars that will be utilizing artificial intelligence. In case you don't know, Tesla is in the process of developing humanoid robots that are intended to help people with everyday tasks. To do that, the robot must also be equipped with an AI.
The robot called Optimus has already shown demonstrations of what it's capable of. More recently, it showed how it can fold clothes, although it still needs more work. It's still far from the initial demo, where it turned out to just be a man in a spandex suit.
Read Also: Tesla Optimus Robot Shows Skills at Folding Laundry During Pre-Scripted Demo
Selling Tesla Stocks for Twitter (X)
The tech billionaire started selling stocks back in April 2022 to have the funds needed to complete the Twitter deal. He sold nearly $23 billion worth of shares to pay for the absurd price of the social media company at $44 billion.
Most would say that this was a mistake, some agreeing that it was already apparent from the start. Even Musk saw that purchasing Twitter might not be the best idea as he tried to back out at the last minute. Unfortunately for Musk, he was forced to go through with the deal.
If you ask anyone about whether the acquisition was worth it, the majority would say that it was not. If you look at the current state of the company, you might also agree that the Twitter acquisition was a big mistake.
For one, the company is no longer worth what it was. Musk had ambitious plans for the site, saying that it will be worth way more than the $44 billion he paid it for. In the last official announcement, X was now less than 50% of what it used to be worth.
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