Tesla Semi deliveries to Pepsi start Dec 1
Musk says the Tesla Semi truck will start production with deliveries to Pepsi on December 1. He says the Semi has a 500-mile range and is super fun to drive. Pepsi ordered 100 of the all-electric Class 8 trucks in December 2017, a month after it was announced.
500 mile range & super fun to drive
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022
Riley: Musk woke up screaming in terror about bankruptcy
Musk’s ex-wife says that came close to a meltdown in 2008 when Tesla was haemorrhaging money and SpaceX had failed three times to launch a rocket into orbit.
He was trying to avoid bankruptcy. Every day Elon would come home and say, ‘That’s it. He was being ridiculed by the press. He would have these night terrors in the middle of the night. We’d be fast asleep and suddenly he would be screaming in his sleep, like he was trying to climb up and escape something. He gave me an out. He said, ‘This is going to be the hard part, you don’t have to stay for it’.
The actress said her ex-husband was vindicated when SpaceX finally became the first private company to launch a rocket into orbit, netting Musk a $1.5bn Nasa contract.
It was the first thing that went right. Elon was at his most joyous, incredible, wonderful. He went from being ridiculed to suddenly, his word was gospel.
Proposes China-Taiwan peace plan
In an interview with The Financial Times, Musk talks about his plan for China-Taiwan relations
My recommendation … would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won’t make everyone happy. And it’s possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong.
SpaceX Dragon Capsule docks with ISS
Elon Musk shares a video of the SpaceX Dragon capsule docking with the International Space Station. The docking took place 29 hours after the Falcon 9 spacecraft took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX Crew-5 is the fifth crewed NASA flight, carrying two NASA astronauts, one Japanese astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut. During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct over 200 science experiments.
SpaceX Dragon docking with @Space_Station (extended video) pic.twitter.com/AFBDKHddgI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022
Musk-Twitter trial stayed, deal must close Oct 28
Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick agrees to stay the Musk-Twitter trial, giving Musk until 5 pm on Oct. 28 to close the deal. Otherwise, she will set another trial date for next month. The proceedings had been set for Oct. 17. Twitter had argued that Musk should close the deal before the trial date.
This action is stayed until 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, to permit the parties to close on the transaction. If the transaction does not close by 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, the parties are instructed to contact me by email that evening to obtain November 2022 trial dates.
Twitter wants deal closed before trial date
Musk’s attorneys formally ask a judge to stay the trial, which is set to start Oct. 17. The Musk team say a close would be possible on or around Oct. 28. However, Twitter says Musk must close the deal before proceedings start on the 17th. Twitter;
At a minimum…Defendants should be arranging to close on Monday, October 10. But they aren’t. Instead, they refuse to commit to any closing date. They ask for an open ended out, at the expense of Twitter’s stockholders (who are owed $44 billion plus interest), all the while remaining free to change their minds again or to invent new grounds to avoid the contract. Until Defendants commit to close as required, Twitter is entitled to its day in Court….Defendants can and should close next week. Until they do, this action is not moot [as Musk’s motion insisted] and should be brought to trial.
Musk’s lawyers:
Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.
Musk tried for Twitter discount
In the weeks before Musk’s bid to own Twitter was back on the table, his representatives asked for a discount of 30%, a proposal that would have valued the company at roughly $31 billion. Twitter rejected the proposal.
In the past week, a discount of 1% was discussed, a valuation of $39.6 billion, but the talks did not move forward. Twitter’s market cap as of Wednesday was $39.2 billion.
Musk said completing the acquisition was dependent on his ability to secure financing from the banks that had agreed to back his April bid, which offered $54.20 per share. If the banks do not follow through, Musk will have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee. He has also asked Twitter to halt its litigation against him.
Musk SEC letter confirming Twitter purchase released
Musk’s letter [link] to the SEC, confirming purchase of Twitter, is released. The purchase is conditional on debt financing and a stay of action of the Twitter-Musk court case.
Gentlemen: On behalf of X Holdings I, Inc., X Holdings II, Inc. and Elon R. Musk (the “Musk Parties”), we write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein and pending receipt of the proceeds of the debt financing contemplated thereby, provided that the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs. Musk, et al. (C.A. No. 202-0613-KSJM) (the “Action”) and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related thereto pending such closing or further order of the Court.
Musk to buy Twitter at original price, share trading halted
Trading in Twitter shares is halted as the stock spiked following reports that Musk is planning to buy the company for his original offer price of $54.20 per share. The shares had been up by 13% at $47.95 before trading was paused following the news. Twitter and Musk were due to be in court later this month as the company attempted to hold Musk to his original $44bn offer, made in April.
Musk had wanted to back out of the deal over the number of bot accounts on the platform, which he said was above Twitter’s estimate of 5% of users. The takeover deal has already received approval from Twitter shareholders.
Lithuanian president: ‘When someone steals the wheels of your Tesla, it doesn’t make them the legal owner’
Lithuanian’s president responds to Musk’s second poll, asking if the people who live in Donbas & Crimea should decide whether they live in Russia or Ukraine:
Dear @elonmusk, when someone tries to steal the wheels of your Tesla, it doesn’t make them legal owner of the car or of the wheels. Even though they claim both voted in favor of it. Just saying.
Dear @elonmusk, when someone tries to steal the wheels of your Tesla, it doesn't make them legal owner of the car or of the wheels. Even though they claim both voted in favor of it. Just saying. https://t.co/0eEjCydqu1
— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) October 3, 2022
Zelensky posts poll in response to Musk’s Ukraine tweets
Ukraine’s president Zelensky responds to Musk’s Ukraine statements by posting a poll of his own, asking:
Which @elonmusk do you like more? One who supports Ukraine or One who supports Russia?
Musk reposnds, saying he ‘very much supports’ Ukraine:
I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.
I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
Ukrainian ambassador tells Musk to ‘F– off’
After Musk posts that three likely outcomes of the Ukraine War would be: Crimea be given permanently to Russia; that the four areas annexed by Russia after sham referendums in September 2020, be given new UN-monitored referendums; and that Ukraine should remain neutral and not join NATO, Melnyk, Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, says:
F— off is my very diplomatic reply to you. The only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing tesla crap. So good luck to you.
Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk
— Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) October 3, 2022
Posts Ukraine-Russia peace deal proposal and poll
Musk posts a Twitter poll to gauge support for what he claims is a likely outcome of the seven-month Ukraine-Russia conflict.
- That the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which Russia annexed by force in 2014, be permanently given to Russia and guaranteed a permanent water supply.
- That the four regions of eastern Ukraine where Russia held sham referendums last month before illegally annexing the land be put to new referendums, this time organized by the United Nations.
- That Ukraine should be forced to remain “neutral@ accomplishing the long-term Kremlin goal of barring Ukraine from joining the NATO defensive alliance.
Musk also says that his proposal is the likely solution and that a “possible, albeit unlikely octcome from this conflict is nuclear war”.
This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022
Musk responds to Pope’s call for Ukraine peace
Musk responds to the Pope’s call for peace over the Russian-Ukraine war.
War always gives ample reason for vengeance for all sides. Only by overcoming this instinct can there be peace.
War always gives ample reason for vengeance for all sides. Only by overcoming this instinct can there be peace.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2022
Advice to younger self: ‘Stop and smell the roses’
At Tesla’s AI Day, Musk is asked what advice he would give to his younger self. In addition to saying he would join Tesla; Musk says he would try to expose himself to as many smart people as possible and read a lot of books.
I think there is some merit to just also just not being necessarily too intense, like enjoying the moment a bit more. I would say to 20 something me to stop and smell the roses occasionally probably would be a good idea.
Recalling an incident when SpaceX was developing the Falcon 1 rocket on a beautiful island, he said that during the entire time he didn’t have a drink on the beach,
I should have had a drink on the beach. That would have been fine.
Musk offers Starlink satellites to Florida
Florida Governor DeSantis says Musk has agreed to provide Starlink to help in response to Hurricane Ian in areas of Southwest Florida still without power and internet after the superstorm. SpaceX plans to send 120 “large Starlink units” to Florida, which will serve as satellite dishes to distribute internet connections to devices within a 13-mile radius. Use by search and rescue crews will be prioritized. Starlink is covering all costs. DeSantis:
We are working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite. They are positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas.
Elon Musk sends Starlink satellites to storm-battered Florida counties https://t.co/iy0YkuxZjN pic.twitter.com/GR4Mq01C33
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) October 1, 2022
Musk reveals Optimus Robot
Musk unveils the humanoid Telsa Optimus Robot at Tesla AI Day. He shows a walking production prototype, plus one that uses Tesla actuators. Musk says the robot will be produced at scale and will cost less than a family car.
We’ve designed it using the same discipline that we use when designing the car, which is to design it for manufacturing, so it’s possible to make the robot at high volume at low cost, with high reliability. That’s incredibly important. We’ve all seen very impressive humanoid robot demonstrations. But what are they missing? They’re missing a brain. They don’t have the intelligence to navigate the world by themselves. They’re also very expensive and made in low volume, whereas Optimus is an extremely capable robot, but it’s made in very high volume, ultimately millions of units. It’s expected to cost much less than a car, probably less than $20,000.
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 1, 2022
University refuses to release injured Neuralink monkey photos
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) advocacy group says its request for 371 photos of monkeys that were subjected to Neuralink brain implant technology experiments, which took place at US Davis’s veterinary lab facilities, has been refused by the university, which says they are proprietary. Earlier this year, Neuralink said that a fifth of the 23 rhesus macaques monkeys it used to test its brain-hacking implants had been euthanized after developing infections and malfunctions. Neuralink paid UC Davis $1.4 million to use its facilities between 2017 and 2020. PCRM:
UC Davis thinks the public is too stupid to know what they’re looking at. But it’s clear the university is simply trying to hide from taxpayers the fact that it partnered with Elon Musk to conduct experiments in which animals suffered and died.
Dorsey wanted Musk on Twitter’s board, but directors were too ‘risk averse’
According to texts revealed in discovery, Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, tried to get Elon Musk on Twitter’s board, but could not do so because he claimed the company’s directors were too risk averse. In a text message to Musk on March 26, Dorsey wrote:
The board is just super risk averse and saw adding you as more risk.
Dorsey said he thought the board’s approach “was completely stupid and backwards.” But said his power was limited because he only had one vote, and 3% of company, and no dual class shares. A little over a week later, Musk announced plans to join the board, before he decided to make an offer to buy the company.
Government agencies mock floating Cybertruck
Musk’s claim that Cybertruck will be able to ‘serve briefly as a boat’ is mocked by two government agencies.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources responded with a photo of a submerged car and said:
Our derelict vessel crews are begging you to understand that anything that “serves briefly as a boat” should not be used as a boat.
Our derelict vessel crews are begging you to understand that anything that “serves briefly as a boat” should not be used as a boat https://t.co/lcrunbf1DJ pic.twitter.com/j2eL5tGcJZ
— Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources (@waDNR) September 29, 2022
And, after a Twitter user suggests Cybertruck would put the San Francisco Bay Ferry out of business, they responded:
Announcement: to prepare for the inevitability of the Nintendo 64 floatie truck flotilla rendering us obsolete, we’re adding little wheels to our ferries. Landboat will be able to serve brief as a bus, so it can cross bridges, parking lots and highways that are not too congested
Announcement: to prepare for the inevitability of the Nintendo 64 floatie truck flotilla rendering us obsolete, we're adding little wheels to our ferries. Landboat will be able to serve brief as a bus, so it can cross bridges, parking lots and highways that are not too congested.
— San Francisco Bay Ferry (@SFBayFerry) September 29, 2022