Ives: Musk Political Gambles, Side Show Can't Continue

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00:00I mean, I knew Elon was not going to be happy, but the reality is, you know, the board,

00:07they basically need to now step it up. And I think it's something where, you know,

00:11I hear from shareholders around the world, right, on Tesla. And as one of the biggest supporters of

00:17Elon and Tesla, it was time to rip the Band-Aid off. You got to now put a new structure. And

00:23actually one of them, you know, that we talked about in terms of the three things that we

00:28suggested, is actually something Musk wants in terms of 25% voting rights. And what I view is

00:34will ultimately be an XAI merger potentially. But second, third, the political gambles

00:40and this sideshow, it can't continue. You know, analysts were totally,

00:46seemed totally fine with Elon Musk. And correct me if I'm wrong, they seemed totally fine with him

00:51when he was getting along well with President Trump. And it seemed like the president's policies

00:55would favor his companies. Is that fair to say?

01:00That's 100%. I mean, I view it as like, and we talked about it, the best that ever happened to

01:05Musk at that time was Trump getting into the White House. And obviously, you know, you could argue

01:10Trump doesn't get into the White House if it's not for Musk. But like a lot of things, it took on a

01:16life of its own. Doge, BFFs, spending no time with Tesla, Mar-a-Lago, DC, Doge, the brand issues.

01:25That ultimately is why then Musk had to take a step back and basically leave the Trump administration.

01:31But in your wildest nightmare, no one expected, hey, let's triple down, start a third political

01:40party, where now Trump actually becomes a foe, Republican Party becomes a foe. And that just

01:47becomes more of an overhang for Tesla.

01:52So the board as it exists now, is this the board that you think can bring about the necessary changes

02:01and set the ground rules as you are calling for Tesla? And Jack Hartung, who has been CFO of Starbucks,

02:08not Starbucks, of Chipotle, excuse me. Kimball Reeve Musk is on it, Jim Murdoch,

02:17of course, Elon, Robin Denholm, an Australian business executive, former accountant, chair of

02:24the Tesla board. So I'm just trying to think, is this the board that you think can execute the

02:30changes that need to be done? Well, they don't have a choice.

02:34What do you mean they don't have a choice? Because they don't have a choice where the

02:39sometimes boards, look, if you go back to the history of Tesla, what Elon does what he do,

02:47you know, you can never argue a bet against them. And that's been the MO, right? That's been the DNA.

02:55The problem is, is that quiet, essentially, the clock strikes midnight, when now it comes to these

03:03political ventures and endeavors, as well as the time spent at Tesla. The board, you're not going to

03:12have a major change or makeup in a board that would take many years. The board now, as a public company,

03:21needs to, A, new pay package that we talked about in 25% booting shares, but then establish the

03:28guardrails, because it's a public company and shareholders are demanding. And the stock reflects

03:35changes that need to be made.

03:39You know, the board certainly is part of it, but I think a bigger picture question that I have is an

03:45existential one about Tesla, Dan, and that's with regard to Chinese competition. And we've seen sales

03:50get hammered over the last year, and that really, the narrative has been around Musk's and his

03:56association with politics, whether we're talking about that in the US or about that in Europe.

04:01But what about the China factor? Does Tesla have what it takes to compete around the world with

04:07Chinese EVs?

04:09They have what it takes with Musk. In other words, like, Musk is the biggest asset for Tesla.

04:14But they don't have the products, but they don't have products that compete at those price points

04:18and with that tech.

04:19Yeah. So on that point, look, as someone sends time in China, like competition, BYD,

04:26NIO, X-Ping, everything we've seen, clearly it's become much more of a competitive market.

04:32I continue to view that Tesla is still a gold standard globally when it comes to EVs.

04:38I think when it comes to China, look, the big game right now that they're trying to win is not

04:44necessarily about deliveries. It's about can they win the autonomous and robotics future?

04:51That, look, that is the way you get to $2 trillion, the way you get to a trillion dollar incremental

04:57valuation because of autonomous is that way.

04:59You know, it's interesting that you say that because one of our producers, Sebastian Escobar,

05:05said, hey, Waymos are coming to my town where I live in, which is just across from lower Manhattan.

05:16And I'm like, wait, what? And Waymos seem to be expanding pretty aggressively.

05:20And so it does seem like folks are going after what could be ultimately the future, right, of Tesla,

05:30if really autonomous works. I mean, that's where the growth comes, right, going forward for Tesla, in your view?

05:36Sure. But to that point, like, look, Waymos are $200,000 cars.

05:40Like you're essentially in five, six cities.

05:44Yeah.

05:44When you think about the scale and scope, Tesla, we're talking about 20, 25 cities over the next year

05:50when it comes to RoboTag. I mean, that's the whole opportunity.

05:53Like when you think about 20 percent of what I view as like ride sharing over the next four or five years

05:59is going to be autonomous, no driver.

06:02So that's the opportunity that Tesla's going after.

06:06But then it goes back to politically.

06:08You can have Trump, Duffy, whoever else you want to talk about for an administration,

06:15not as a friend, but as a foe, when you go into the most important chapter of growth and success,

06:22what I view, on the horizon for Tesla.

06:26Has Elon reached out to you? Have you reached out to him?

06:30I mean, I won't comment there.

06:32I would just say that, like, the message has definitely been received by Elon.

06:38It's been received by the board.

06:41And that was my goal, right?

06:43Like my goal is that sometimes it's like tough love, right?

06:46Yeah.

06:47Like the point is like, it comes down to like, if you don't reprimand or whatever,

06:54if you like, you know, it's like there's good times and bad times.

06:56But this is a time, and the stock reflects it, that the board, the adults in the room,

07:05whatever you want to talk about, they need to weigh the guardrails out from Musk,

07:10especially around the political ambition.

07:13That is the key.

07:16Dan, how does it feel to have Elon Musk tell you to, in all seriousness,

07:21what did it feel like to have him tell you to shut up on his platform?

07:24He's got, I don't even know how many followers he has.

07:27It has to be over 100 million, hundreds of millions at this point.

07:29Yeah, I think it's like 220 million.

07:31220 million followers.

07:33How did that feel?

07:34I mean, I imagine, too, his sort of army came after you as well.

07:38Yeah, but I don't, you know, we know each other well.

07:41It's like, I don't worry about that.

07:43I mean, to me, I just actually view it more as like, he has his right to an opinion.

07:50I disagree.

07:51I'm a huge supporter of him and Tesla, but I'm more focused on, like, it creating dialogue.

07:58Like, he'll say, shut up, Dan, and I have 100 memes sent to me about different shut up, Dan stuff.

08:04And actually, a guy on the street yesterday yelled from New York City across the street, like, shut up, Dan.

08:09So that's, look, that's, that's, that's cool.

08:12But to me, it's about creating the dialogue because now it's like, okay, what, what is the community?

08:19What is share, I'm here from shareholders all day, right?

08:23That's the important thing, what it means for the Tesla story.

08:27That's the whole goal.

08:28Um, I wonder, has the board reached out to you and said, hey, thanks, Stan, for that.

08:37Four members of the board?

08:38Assist, yeah.

08:39No, I mean, I just, the good thing is, like, I feel like, I definitely feel like this message has been received by the board.

08:46You know, I think everyone's seen it.

08:47And at least now, look, now it comes down to, like, okay, are there actions, like, does the, what does the board do with the next pay package?

08:58Remember, is the other $56 billion pay package is still in the legal sort of limbo because of Delaware?

09:05Proxies still hasn't been, you know, ultimately sent.

09:09That's been delayed.

09:10So this is a key period of time for the board for Musk.

09:14Another message that was received for the world of Elon Musk was from the CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, stepping down as CEO after two years.

09:29Post on X, decided to step down as CEO.

09:33I'll be cheering you all as you continue to change the world.

09:36What's your view on that?

09:37What's, how do we read that?

09:38I think she, I have a very positive view of her, right?

09:42Besides the fact that she's a Penn Stater, we are, but, but that is, um, my view is she turned around X.

09:54She navigated massive political storm, right?

09:58I think very few people could have done the advertising.

10:02I think a lot of it has rebound.

10:04There's still obviously clear headwinds, but I think like, this is like, look, it's huge shoes to fill.

10:11Like, it is a big hole, her leaving, because she has a unique background because of advertising, because of her personality.

10:20I think she got along very well with Musk.

10:23So it is, it is a huge, you know, what I view it's a negative, but now it comes down to like, who fills that role?

10:31Like, what ask for anlek?

10:31Like, what's the firstizing one?

10:32Like, what's the truth?

10:33Like, who informed you is sorry, she's like, what did it take about the fact that she's gone?

10:34Like, what did you say to me about this period?

10:36Yeah.

10:36Like, what did the following week do?

10:37I saw a subscription, and I'mания South Park.

10:38That's like, what happened?

10:40Like, what's your dream?

10:40Like, what's the first year?

10:41Like, where do you find a subscription?

10:42Like, what's your dream about this?

10:43Like, what's like, here's like, what's gonna go.

10:44Like, go.

10:45Like, what's the most interesting place?

10:45After this breed?

10:47Like, where'd you find something good at this stage?

10:49So it's like, gosh.

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