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Showing posts with the label Elon Musk

It’s Friday, so here’s a rap video about scooter startup Bird

The post It’s Friday, so here’s a rap video about scooter startup Bird appeared first on BardTech . Listen, if you’re the kind of person who wants to watch a rap video about scooters, here’s a rap video about scooters. Don’t let me stop you. Also, if you make it to the end, you might as well stick around for the credits. For one thing, you’ll learn that it was directed by Andrew Oleck, the man who created that fake Mark Zuckerberg video , “A World Without Facebook.” And then there’s the disclaimer: “This video is not an advertisement. It is comedic satire. Bayview Drive Films is not endorsed, affiliated or otherwise sponsored by Bird .” It’s the kind of message that raises more questions than it answers. Like: What’s the joke here? Is the video pro-scooter, anti-scooter, neither, both? Was I supposed to laugh? I mean, I chuckled a little at the rubber chicken, but mostly I cringed. Is that normal? Would I have gotten more out of it if I listened to more rap? Or if I’d ever been ...

BlackRock pushes for separation of powers at Tesla

The post BlackRock pushes for separation of powers at Tesla appeared first on BardTech . The world’s largest investor is joining the chorus of voices pushing for a separation of powers at the electric vehicle, solar panel and battery manufacturer, Tesla . Funds managed by BlackRock , a top 10 shareholder in the electric vehicle company run by Elon Musk (and the manager of roughly $6.3 trillion in global assets ), joined calls for the creation of an independent chairman position at Tesla. The shareholder initiative, which was solidly defeated, would not have affected Musk’s standing as chief executive. News of BlackRock’s push comes as a new article in The Wall Street Journal further underscores the autocratic ways in which Musk manages his electric vehicle startup, and highlights the singular grip Musk has on his companies and the public’s perception of them. Elon Musk losing his temper and firing people on the spot is one of those anecdotes I’ve heard over and over a...

Tesla’s drama, China-based companies are listing in the U.S., and SurveyMonkey is (finally) going public

The post Tesla’s drama, China-based companies are listing in the U.S., and SurveyMonkey is (finally) going public appeared first on BardTech . Hello and welcome back to Equity , TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week, we were a man down, with the excellent Alex Wilhelm of Crunchbase News on a vacation that someone seems to have sanctioned, though it was not us, as we don’t believe in vacations. (Wilhelm, get back here.) We did, happily, have the very knowledgeable Kirsten Korosec of TechCrunch join us on the line; we were also joined by this week’s personable in-studio guest: Lauren Kolodny , a partner at the San Francisco-based, early-stage venture firm Aspect Ventures. It was the perfect mix to talk about car makers and more car makers, including Tesla and CEO Elon Musk’s seemingly ill-planned plans to take the publicly traded company private, then vacillating a bit before changing his mind again, much to the ...

Diver attacked by Elon Musk as “pedo guy” is prepping a libel suit

The post Diver attacked by Elon Musk as “pedo guy” is prepping a libel suit appeared first on BardTech . A British cave diving expert who helped save the young Thai football team that got trapped in caves this summer is preparing a legal action against Elon Musk for making “false and defamatory statements”, TechCrunch has confirmed. BuzzFeed  reported the development earlier, after obtaining a letter sent to Musk’s home on August 6 by a firm representing the diver, Vernon Unsworth. Here is the full letter sent to Elon Musk’s home dated Aug. 6. pic.twitter.com/3CQHHcSrlK — Ryan Mac (@RMac18) August 29, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The background here is that in a  highly offensive and extremely bizarre episode last month  — even for the famously ‘loose cannon online’ Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to attack Unsworth, branding him a “pedo guy”. The bizarre attack came after Unsworth had given a critical interview to the media ...

Elon Musk: Tesla will remain a public company

The post Elon Musk: Tesla will remain a public company appeared first on BardTech . Tesla will remain a public company, CEO Elon Musk said Friday night, less than three weeks after he announced to the world via Twitter that he was considering taking the electric automaker private at $420 a share. Musk, who posted the announcement via Tesla’s blog , said Friday that after speaking with shareholders and investigating the process of taking the company private he believes the better path is for Tesla to remain public. Musk met with Tesla’s board of directors Thursday and told him his decision. The board agreed, he wrote. Here’s an excerpt: Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company. Additionally, a number of institutional shareholders have explained that they have internal compliance issues that limit how much they can invest in a private company. There is also no proven path for most reta...