Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Elon Musk

Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, and Other Tech Company Execs Sign Petition Against SOPA

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:49:35 +0000

Stop Online Piracy Act is a bill that was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2011 by Lamar Smith (R-TX). This Act would allow the Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders against websites accused of copyright infringement that would prevent online ad networks and payment facilitators from doing business with those websites. Opponents in this bill believe that this is Internet censorship. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, and Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang oppose the bill. Their letter will appear as a paid ad in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.

The timing of this letter coincides with the scheduled committee vote taking place tomorrow with a revised version of the Act. The revision of SOPA will “give the U.S. government the power to censor the Web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran.” Below is the full letter from the Internet executives:

An Open Letter to Washington
We’ve all had the good fortune to found Internet companies and nonprofits in a regulatory climate that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, the creation of content and free expression online.
However we’re worried that the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act–which started out as well-meaning efforts to control piracy online–will undermine that framework.
These two pieces of legislation threaten to:
* Require web services, like the ones we helped found, to monitor what users link to, or upload. This would have a chilling effect on innovation;
* Deny website owners the right to due process of law;
* Give the U.S. Government the power to censor the web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran; and
* Undermine security online by changing the basic structure of the Internet.
We urge Congress to think hard before changing the regulation that underpins the Internet. Let’s not deny the next generation of entrepreneurs and founders the same opportunities that we all had.
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square
Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch
David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post
Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube
Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and co-founder of Alexa Internet
Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal
Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist
Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay
Biz Stone, co-founder of Obvious and Twitter
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation
Evan Williams, co-founder of Blogger and Twitter
Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!

NASA Invests $75 Million Into SpaceX

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:25:29 +0000

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invested $75 million into Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). SpaceX is led by CEO Elon Musk. NASA is investing in SpaceX as part of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) effort. NASA’s CCDev2 effort is to accelerate the availability of space transportation to their crew as they get prepare to retire the Space Shuttle. [socaltech]

Inside The SpaceX Dragon [INFOGRAPHIC]

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:53:49 +0000

Earlier this week Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has a successful Dragon space capsule launch. The Dragon is expected to be the first commercial spacecraft to make a round trip in low Earth orbit. Space.com designed an infographic that makes it easy to understand how the Dragon works. Check it out below:

SpaceX Raises $50 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:29:44 +0000

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), the American space transport company founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk has raised $50 million according to an SEC filing. “Existing investors expressed an interest in making an incremental investment and we accommodated their request,” stated a company representative. This puts SpaceX at a total of $200 million. Previous investors include Elon Musk, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the Founders Fund. [BusinessInsider]

Panasonic Invests $30 Million Into Tesla Motors For 2% Stake

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:13:47 +0000

Panasonic has invested $30 million into Tesla Motors and will receive a 2% stake in the electric car company. This investment was sent to Tesla about a week after the grand opening of Tesla’s factory. Tesla has been using Panasonic cells for their Tesla Roadster battery packs.

Going forward, Panasonic will be the preferred supplier of battery cells. “It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Panasonic, the world’s leading battery cell manufacturer, would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla,” stated Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. “Panasonic offers the highest energy-density cells and industry-leading performance with cutting edge nickel-type cathode technology. We believe our partnership with them will enable us to further improve our battery pack while reducing cost.”

[Wired]

Elon Musk Probably Made Close To $24 Million From Tesla IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:04:11 +0000

Late last month, the New York Times wrote an article about how Elon Musk is broke. “About four months ago, I ran out of cash,” said Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and the head of Tesla Motors.

Musk made about $200 million when PayPal was sold to eBay. And Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) raised about $465 million from the Energy Department in the form of low-interest loans.

Musk said that his account is less than empty because he spent his last cent in his businesses and is now living off the loans of his wealthy friends. Making matters worse, he is the middle of a divorce with his wife Justine Musk because he ran off with actress Talulah Riley.

Justine wants the house, alimony, child support, and $6 million in cash. She also wants partial ownership in Tesla Motors and Elon’s stake in rocket company SpaceX.

Essentially Musk was having liquidity issues, but he could have borrowed money from friends or rushed a private stock sale. He decided not to because he wanted to hold on to his equity in Tesla, which just had an initial public offering (IPO). “My assets are huge,” said Musk with a laugh. Elon was required to hold on to at least 65% of Tesla as part of the loan agreement from the Energy Department too.

Musk did not make his initial fortune from PayPal. He also started a dot-com publishing business called Zip2 that he sold for $300 million. SpaceX, another company founded by Musk has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, which is being phased out, but SpaceX did complete a successful launch of Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Now that Tesla is a public company, it is estimated that Elon Musk made at least $24 million from the IPO. Tesla is the first automotive company to have an IPO since 1956, which is when Ford went public. Tesla set the price at $17 per share and Musk sold 1.42 million shares to underwriters.

Tesla builds electric cars (such as the $109,000 Roadster) that are often bought by celebrities and other wealthy customers.

AutoTech Roundup: Nissan Juke, Kia Ray Concept, Danica Patrick Wrecks Car At NASCAR Debut, Saab’s $545M Loan, Musk Flying Around In Private Jet

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:11:52 +0000

Nissan Juke

Nissan has released official images of the Nissan Juke. At the front of the Juke, there is six pairs of lights including head lamps, fog lights, and large round auxiliary lights. The interior is inspired by a fuel tank of a motorcycle too [CNET].

Kia Ray Concept

Below is a picture of the Kia Ray, a natural gas-powered vehicle that debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. Under the glass hood is a 153 horsepower and 1.4 liter direct-injection engine [AutoMobileBlog].

Patrick Crashes GoDaddy Car In 12 Car Pileup

In her debut at the NASCAR Nationwide race, Danica Patrick crashed the GoDaddy Chevy Impala in a 12 car pile-up.

Saab Approved For $545 Million Loan

Saab has been approved for a $545 million loan. “We are extremely pleased with the decision by the EIB as this was a crucial component in enabling the acquisition of Saab to proceed. Months of hard work have paid off, said Victor Muller, Spyker’s CEO. “We cannot wait to close this transaction now as soon as practically possible. We extend our gratitude to the EIB officials who have worked relentlessly to make this happen.” [eGMcarTech]

Musk Flying Around In Private Jet

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk flew his private jet to Washington D.C. over 12 times since last year according to Autospies. Some of these trips were intended to request government public financing. This is ironic because GM, Chrysler, and Ford executives were heavily criticized by members of Congress for doing the same thing. Musk flew in a Dassault Falcon 900 and landed in Washington in mid-June of 2009. Around that time is when Tesla was given a $465 million loan from the DoE. Tesla is planning to raise an additional $100 million in an IPO. [AutoSpies]

Elon Musk And Martin Eberhard Drop The Lawsuit

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:15:56 +0000

Elon Musk and Martin Eberhard are both co-founders of Tesla Motors. About five to six years after starting the company, the two had a falling out. Eberhard accused Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and the company of slander, mismanagement, and for delivering a damaged Roadster vehicle. Eberhard left the company in 2007 and it was rumored that Musk forced him out. However Eberhard was promised a first edition $109,000 Roadster, but it was delivered with a dent.

The media even reported that Musk accused Eberhard of Tesla’s financial problems which led to delayed products. Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Tesla for costs and damages as a result. Now it sounds like Musk and Eberhard wants what is best for the company. The lawsuit has been dropped and the company can now focus stronger on product development and delivery.

Financial settlements were undisclosed, but it is safe to assume that the company was hardly affected. Tesla Motors has a fat wallet after receiving a major investment by Daimler and the government.

Tesla Motors Hires Ricardo Reyes For VP Of Communications

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:01:37 +0000

Tesla Motors has a new VP of Communications and he comes from Google subsidiary YouTube. Reyes was the Director of Communications at the video website service before joining Tesla. Reyes will be starting in mid-September.

Before working at YouTube, Reyes worked in D.C. for projects involving public policy and communications. Reyes also spent two years working at Bracewell and Giullani LLC.

“Ricardo has deep expertise in both the public and private sectors in managing complex communication issues. He has a well earned reputation for being forthright, possessing a nuanced understanding of the facts and adapting quickly to a rapidly changing landscape, making Ricardo the perfect person for a fast-paced, high-profile company like ours,” stated Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a press release. “This is further evidence that Tesla is aggressively recruiting from both Silicon Valley and the traditional automotive industry to build the best possible team.”

Earlier this month, Tesla announced that they were profitable and they raised $465 million from the Department of Energy in late June. Daimler owns about 10% of Tesla.

Tesla Motors Made A Profit Last Month

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:29:28 +0000

Tesla Motors said that they have earned profit last month. This is the first time the company has made a profit since 2002. The company made $1 million on $20 million revenue in July after shipping 109 Roadsters. The company said that the profit was due to improved margins on the two-seater car and a “surge” in orders. The starter price of the automobile is $109,000.

“We achieved bottom-line profitability thanks to a tremendous amount of hard work by the Tesla team to improve quality, while simultaneously reducing costs on the Roadster,” stated Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. “This also shows there is a strong demand for the car… Moreover, customers know that in buying the Roadster they are helping fund development of our mass-market electric cars.”

Although there has been a surge in orders, Tesla said that rolling cars out of production won’t be as fast. Tesla has produced about 609 Roadsters since production has been rolled out in March 2008. Tesla is on pace to meet the goal of rolling out 1,000-1,200 cars per year.

Tesla plans to spend an additional amount of money to expand retail operations and a new car model. Tesla has showrooms in LA, NYC, Seattle, London, and Menlo Park. Tesla plans to open showrooms in Chicago, Miami, Munich, and Monaco. Tesla also plans on investing in the Model S sedan mobile which they plan to start selling around 2011.

In late June, Tesla announced that they are raising $465 million from The Department of Energy. Tesla will be using the money to develop the powertrain for the Model S and prepare a factory to build the car.

The revenue and net income is based on the GAAP and was audited by a Big Three accounting firm. The $20 million revenue does not include deposits made on Tesla automobiles that over 1,500 customers have put down. The revenue and net income also does not include the $50 million investment that Daimler has made in Tesla.

[via Wired]