Man who lost $35 billion in a year has some advice for Elon Musk

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/man-who-lost-35-billion-in-a-year-has-some-advice-for-elon-musk/ar-AAC5fi7?ocid=AMZN

Quote

The man, of course, is Eike Batista, who once famously told Mexico’s Carlos Slim to watch out because, he said, he was poised to surpass him as the world’s wealthiest person. Slim has since faded to ninth on the list, Batista to oblivion. Now, he’s staging a comeback. Or trying to, at least. He’s also got lots of ideas for a man on the hot seat right now that he sees as something of a kindred spirit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and he’s quick to spew criticism at those he feels did in his empire.

Batista sat at the head of the table at one of his favorite Japanese restaurants in Rio, holding court and quizzing companions about Brazil’s ongoing oil bonanza while he scribbled calculations on a place mat. Pinned to his black sport coat was a golden sun, the logo of his erstwhile commodities empire that once made him the world’s eighth-richest person, and a household name in Brazil.

“People don’t even know it’s working,’’ Batista said between bites of shrimp tempura, describing a port he owned that now loads giant oil tankers bound for China. “It’s bigger than Manhattan!’’

While differences between the men are glaring -- Musk wants his electric cars to break the world’s fossil fuel addiction -- the sudden downfall of Batista’s oil company offers a cautionary tale for Tesla investors.

Both have attacked short sellers with caustic tweets and made market-moving announcements on social media, then came under scrutiny from regulators for doing so. (Brazil’s securities commission this week banned Batista from running publicly-traded companies for seven years and slapped him with a 536-million-real ($132 million) fine.) They also regretted having taken their companies public once markets turned against them, and suffered high-profile staff departures.

 

[TwinIon]

It seems to me that at the rate that Musk risks everything, he doesn't really need much advice in how to lose billions.

 

Still, Batista has a point on the interiors of Teslas. They're not up to the quality of their competitors. They're spartan and functional, and they have those giant touch screens that seem to be enough for people to forgive them their other failings, but the interior quality is just generally uncompetitive with other $60-$90k vehicles.