WEBVTT - Elon Musk Bingo on Tesla’s Earnings Call 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.720 Well, Elon Musk gives now the richest person on the planet. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.039 More than half the satellites in space are owned and 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:15.160 controlled by one man, starting his own artificial intelligence company. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.400 Well, he's a legitimate super genius, I mean legitimate. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:18.919 He says. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.560 He's always voted for Democrats, but this year it will 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.000 be different. He'll vote Republican. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.760 There is a reason the US government is so reliant 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:26.160 on him. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.960 Elon Musk is a scam artist and he's done nothing. 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:43.360 Anything he does is fascinating the people. Welcome to Elon, Inc. 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.360 Where we discuss Elon Musk's vast corporate empire, his latest 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.279 gambits and antics, and how to make sense of it all. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.440 I'm Joe Webber, sitting in for David Papa Duplas for 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:55.600 the first time on Eloni. We're gonna get you ready 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.160 for Tesla's earnings called this Wednesday, and we have a 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.680 little surprise to take the fun factor to ludicrous mode. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.520 To help us prep the popcorn will convene Dana Hole, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.199 who's covered more Tesla earnings call than any other reporter 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:14.119 I know. Hi, Dana, Good morning. Sarah Fryar, who leads 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.760 the Big Tech team here at Bloomberg News. Hello, and 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.080 Max Chafkin, Senior reporter at Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Hey, but first, 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.399 some recent topics we've discussed on elon ink have been 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.959 back in the news. A big one anti Semitism. Both 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.200 X and Musk have been accused of amplifying hate speech 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.880 on the platform. On Monday, Musk got a private tour 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:40.120 of the Aschwitz concentration camp in southern Poland. Later he 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:44.080 participated in a discussion hosted by Ben Shapiro, a controversial 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.080 media pundit. Let's listen, why as. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.480 Many Jewish friends as non Jewish friends. I'm like Jewish 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.840 by association, I'm aspirationally. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.000 Jewish, Sarah, what do you make of this visit to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.240 Aschwitz and sort of this Musk non apology apology. 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.840 It's extremely crn to go to a concentration camp to 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:09.880 try to launder your image and say that you are 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:15.840 aspirationally Jewish, basically like this happened to your people by association. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.000 I mean, I can't believe it happened. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.239 Just welcome to the tribe, brother, Thank you. As a 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.120 Jewish American, I'm just so happy to have encountered another 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.160 Jewish American. Elon Musk I also agree, why is doing 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:36.800 this cringe? So our editor Naomi joke yesterday that you know, normally, 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.400 if you commit an anti Semitic faux pa, you have 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.160 to go to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, d C. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.320 If you commit a world historical anti Semitic foe pa, 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.800 if you allow hundreds or maybe even thousands of crazy 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.160 anti Semitic accounts, if you buy into crazy conspiracy theories, 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.720 if you, as the world's richest man, promote all this nonsense, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.520 then you have to actually go to Ashwitz. And so yeah, 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.040 I mean, he's like attempting to make things right, I guess, 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.960 but of course doesn't seem to be really addressing any 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.280 of the normal stuff, and is claiming Jewish identity in 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.799 an extremely depressing and cringe worthy way. 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.359 In my opinion, just struck me as like a very 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.320 political It's like all optics. It's like there's Elon Musk 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.280 looking somber with let us note his three year old 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.519 toddler on his shoulders. 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.040 And an Auschwitz survivor standing next to him too, and an. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.040 Oshwitz survivor standing next to him, and then like the 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.800 images that were released, it very much struck me. It 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:37.960 looked like a political campaign. 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:38.280 Stop. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.240 Obviously, Musk is not running for any kind of office, 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.680 but it had all of the stage craft of a 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.520 political moment during the week when Tesla's reporting earnings and 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.400 so for him to sort of take the time to 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.880 fly to Poland and fly back. Why now it's all 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.200 because of X and advertising, right, Sarah, I mean, this 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.760 is still sort of an effort to lure the advertisers back. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.800 It's wild because this is the only thing that Elon 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.400 Musk and Linda Yakarino are talking about. Linda's the CEO 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.840 when they speak publicly like they're just doubling down on 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.320 the how could you think we were ever anti semitic? Meanwhile, 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:16.159 if you look at what Elon Musk is tweeting, there's 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.000 there it runs the gamut. There's there's all sorts of 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.880 anti immigrant sentiments, all sorts of of you know, other 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.160 race t stuff, and he's promoting a lot of these 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.200 accounts that are the worst of the worst. It is 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.560 not just anti semitism. It is a wholesale embrace of 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:37.560 people who were banned before were considered dangerous to have 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.400 on the platform in the name of his his free 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.280 speech initiative and So. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.920 The funniest thing about this about this event was that 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.919 Elon Musk and the European Jewish Association which hosted it, 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.760 started with this kind of thought experiment like what if 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.000 we had X during the late Weimar period in Germany, 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:57.599 maybe we would never have had the Holocaust? And Elon 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.480 Musk claimed essentially that, yes, if we'd only had Twitter, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.440 you know, back in the late thirties, early nineteen forties, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.160 a Holocaust never would have happened, which, like I guess, 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:08.919 you know, pay sign up for groc guys. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:13.640 Okay. Elsewhere in current events, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.400 out of the Republican presidential race ahead of the New 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.640 Hampshire primary. One of our mini Elon in pilots was 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:24.039 all about DeSantis announcing his campaign on X with Elon, 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.159 which was glitchy, shall we say, I. 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:28.960 Think we've got. 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:34.599 Just a massive number of people online, so it's serve 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:39.440 as as training somewhat so very glitchy, Sarah Fryar Howell history, 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:45.560 remember that Musk DeSantis embrace just a you know. 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.599 A bad bet, right, but you know, it wasn't the 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.640 only candidate that he has aligned himself with. He also 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.520 did one of those for RFK Junior, the known anti 0:05:55.600 --> 0:06:00.760 vax conspiracy theorist. He's also been in spaces with the 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.359 vik Ramaswami. This is is all kind of wishful thinking 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.640 on his part, because he would really like it if 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.880 he didn't have to cozy up to either Trump or Biden. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.000 But sounds like that's what he's going to have to do. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.040 And he's already We've already discussed on this podcast that 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.280 he has said he will not vote Biden. And so 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:26.320 we do see a lot more Trump aligned rhetoric these 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:31.000 days on X, including voting conspiracy theories. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.480 Max if Runda Santis is out of the race. Who 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:36.960 is Elon's horse? Now? 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.600 I mean we've we're already seeing I looked at Elon's 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.120 X page earlier today, and you know, he's he's tweeting 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.440 about twenty twenty election stuff. We've talked about this on 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.440 the podcast before. He's been stopped to steal curious, you know, 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.640 for some time, and he is, you know, reiterating those concerns, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.919 sort of rebroadcasting or or promoting what essentially amount to 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:02.760 like willful misreadings by Donald Trump and Donald Trump type 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.040 supporters of the twenty Tony voting results, among many other things. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.680 I mean, he is essentially, you know, moving towards Trump. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:10.720 As Sarah said, I mean, I think I think we're 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.280 already seeing it. I'm guessing we'll see it more like Frankly, 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.559 like many billionaires who affiliate with the right right, where 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.360 like there were other candidates that they might have preferred. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.320 We have a new Hampshire primary today. It doesn't look 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.120 great for NICKI Haley, and I think we're gonna see 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:29.280 this same evolution playing out among other people, not just Elon. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:36.360 Musk, Max any Musk Trump predictions. Obviously, Trump was a 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:42.200 prolific tweeter before Musk purchased the platform. Trump obviously has 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.880 not been active on X but there's sets up this 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.440 dynamic where you've got Musk and Trump. 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.400 Perhaps another first of all, to me, Musk supporting Trump 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.560 is like a four on conclusion. Basically, I think it's 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.000 it's going to happen. I think you could argue it is, 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.800 it has already happened. The real question to me is 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.680 like what happens. You know after twenty twenty, there were 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.720 all of these right leaning social networks that launched, you know, 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.680 one of which was truth Social, Donald Trump's company, and 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.120 then another one of them is X essentially, and it 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.760 does seem like X has a chance of like claiming 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.120 that market. You do sort of wonder, you know, this 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:17.440 is kind of a deep cut. I mean, you really 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.560 have to be the interested in sort of right wing 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.880 media and media landscape to care like what happens to 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.520 truth Social, parlor Getter, what's the right wing dating site 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:26.440 of the right stuff? 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:27.720 Like, they're all these sort of. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:32.200 Media business media adjacent businesses that seem like their reason 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.280 for being doesn't quite doesn't exist as much now that 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.800 now that Elon Musk has so firmly turned X to 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:39.440 that market. 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.000 So in that sense, you know, it's like all gravy 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:42.439 for Elon. 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.480 I think I think the consolidation of the Republican Party 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.960 probably allows, you know, X honestly to consolidate this sort 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.199 of ecosystem. 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.880 But let's be clear, Trump does not need X the 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.880 way he needed Twitter in twenty twenty or twenty sixteen. 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.480 It is a completely different platform now and Trump has 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.520 managed to build up his own network that he has 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.439 control over of email addresses, of phone numbers, of people 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.120 who will hand him those five dollars donations when he 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.080 sends a scary thought. I think that that's really how 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:19.560 we are seeing political fundraising evolve, and the idea that 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:24.120 a politician needs to use X in order to rally 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.240 their base may still be in Musk's mind, which is 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.400 why he rewarded the candidates that we're leaning into it. 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.840 But as we've seen, that hasn't been successful for them. 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.800 And I think that what Trump is seeing with a 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.280 platform is the same thing we're all seeing. It is 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.840 not as effective anymore for driving results with an audience. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.040 The followers that it shows you you have are not 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:52.040 all visiting the platform anymore. So I think in that sense, 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.000 maybe Musk needs Trump more than Trump needs Musk at 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:55.439 this point. 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.200 I one hundred percent agree with that, And I do 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.560 think there's some question about whether Trump ever needed Twitter, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.920 like I think there was a there has been a 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.880 tendency to kind of like overstate the impact of social media, 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.640 and a lot of times media kind of chases like 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.400 whatever people are into rather than like setting the agenda. 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.439 But with Trump, it definitely is kind of has reached 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.400 a different dynamic where he's basically been absent from this 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.640 platform for a very long time, and it hasn't seemed 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:24.880 to make a huge difference. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.000 One more fallout of DeSantis exiting the race, there was 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.800 a potential Few of the Week max from Elon Musk 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.680 trolling economist Paul Krugman, who's a commist at the New 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.120 York Times. What happened? 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.800 Well, I mean, I'm a little as an Elon feud connoisseur, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.319 I am sad to report that Paul Krugman, the Nobel 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.520 Prize winning economists Princeton University, New York Times columnist, well 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.439 known progressive liberal commentator, did not take the bait. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:55.200 So it's kind of a fake. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.920 Krugman trolled DeSantis, essentially saying like, let's not forget how 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.080 wrong Rondistances was on covid, pointing to long standing criticisms 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.160 among the left that Dessant has kind of ignored you know, 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:11.560 basic CDC guidelines and so on, and Elon must responded like, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.360 you are a disgrace to the economics profession, which Krugman 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.600 sadly did not take the bait. And I'm mostly sad 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.000 because it was sort of amusing to think of Elon 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.920 as a connoisseur of like academic economics, Like he's like, oh, man, 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.120 you know, you're just like disgracing canes or like like 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.000 Elon has no idea who like it does not follow 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.560 the deep nuances of economics, like he follows the Wait. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.520 He's starting university and he has an economics degree from 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.080 or business degree from Wharton. Come on, he has like 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.000 some grounding in business as a point, But. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.400 That doesn't mean he's like some kind of connoisseur of 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.400 who you know, like academic economic academia. Yeah, he doesn't 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.120 know what whether Krugman's or disgraced anything. He's just responded 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:53.720 to the vibes. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.560 It's not a few if it's not what's below a feud? 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.439 Is it like a schoolyard scrap. It's like a it's like. 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.360 A we have I think it's a big nothing burger. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.160 It's like it's like. 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.200 On the hurricue, you have the one to five on 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.160 the hurricane scale, but below that it's like a tropical storm. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.400 This is like a tropical depression. Maybe I guess as 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:13.199 far as fews go. 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:23.520 Maybe watch yeah Witchery mix And now for our main 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:28.320 event earnings. Okay. Publicly traded companies like Tesla get to 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.800 do these quarterly meetings where they reveal how much money 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.439 they made or lost. It's to face the music moment 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.319 that gives investors, analysts, and journalists a better look at 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.760 what's happening in a given companies business. Dana, you are 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.840 the Tesla pro here. How many earnings have you done? 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.920 And can you give us a short history of Tesla's 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:49.240 earnings calls? 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.280 So I've covered Tesla since two thousand and nine. They 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.400 went public in June of twenty ten, and I don't 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.600 think I've ever missed an earnings call. So that's what 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.160 ten years, four times year, I don't know, I've done 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.680 like over forty maybe fifty that rest in my life. 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.400 And they're pretty wild because if you so, like, most 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.400 corporate earnings calls are pretty boring, frankly, like the CEO 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:18.400 reads scripted remarks, the CFO reads scripted remarks that basically 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.560 repeat what they've just put out in the shareholder letter, 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.160 and then they take questions from analysts that are like, 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.559 congratulations on a good quarter, Bob, like can you give 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.080 us some color about the YadA YadA? And it's just like, 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.800 very frankly, it's very boring. Like test Le earnings calls 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.520 are not like that at all, like Elon is not scripted. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.520 He gets really pissed off at the analysts. He gets 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.400 bored and like a big question like when this call 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.360 starts is like ooh, what kind of mood is dear 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.320 leader in? And we've had some really wild earnings calls 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.640 over the years. I mean, at one point in twenty 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.640 eighteen he called Tony Secanagi, who's like a great analyst 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.280 at Bernstein, like you know that his question he like 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.320 didn't answer his question. He was like this is boring 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.360 and boneheaded. At one point he went to YouTube and 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.400 took spent twenty five minutes talking to like a millennial 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.920 who has like a YouTube channel, and they're just really 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.920 they're very interesting calls, and so much of like how 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.000 Stock reacts is to what does Elon say? And then 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.280 like what's the actual news from the call? Because it's 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.680 all about like what does he say about, you know, 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.760 things going forward? And the January call is always really 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:23.920 important because it kind of sets out the expectations for 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.800 the year. So tomorrow the question is like are we 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:30.800 going to get embulent, expansive, like wonderful Elon or is 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.960 he going to be like morose Elon talking about how 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.720 they're digging their own grave, Like that's the big question 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:36.680 on everybody's mind. 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.080 Elon is such a fixture here, right, Like how many 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:44.720 of these has he missed in your time covering the company? 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.040 He's only missed one. He made this big show a 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:48.960 couple of years ago about how he's like not going 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.000 to be in the earnings calls unless he has big 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.840 news to announce. And then there was one call that 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.880 he missed that the CFO led that was great, and 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.360 then Elon was back and he just can't stay out 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.960 of the limelight, like he's got to be the main character. Like, 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.720 so he's only he's been on every single call. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.800 Okay, So because this is a January call, this one 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.440 is more year ahead leaning than a typical one, which 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.600 would typically look back at the previous quarter. Is that right? Yeah? 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.080 Yeah, especially because Tesla has not given guidance for twenty 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:25.160 twenty four. They have not said publicly how many vehicles 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.080 they expect to deliver in twenty twenty four. We know 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.600 that they delivered roughly one point eight million cars in 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:33.960 twenty twenty three through so like what is the forecast? 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.880 Like we're seeing kind of slowing growth in the EV sector. 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.400 Like evs are still growing as part of the overall 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.600 auto market, but it's not this like blockbuster fifty percent 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.760 year of year growth. So that's a big question for investors. 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:47.880 Are they going to say that they're going to deliver 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.520 two million or two point five? Like what is the 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.040 growth trajectory? And then how much does Musk talk about 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.120 all the other aspects of the business. Is he going 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.280 to be like, we're an AI company, or is he 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.800 going to talk about energy or insurance or you know, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:04.800 the optimist robot. I mean, there's all these different sort 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.800 of aspects of the business that people are curious about. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.440 And and what do everybody who's watching the company, what 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:13.840 do we think about what the twenty twenty four numbers 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.760 could look like, especially after all the price cuts of 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.760 last year but also possibly this slowing demand. 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.360 Well did they tend to over promise? You know, because 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.840 I know like a lot of companies have the opposite strategy, 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:28.880 where they underpromise and then they try to beat that. 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.560 But historically Tesla has said more good things are going 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.760 to happen than actually end up happening. So what do 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:36.840 we think? 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.520 It's kind of weird they'll give like a range where 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.680 a Musk will be like, well, like there could be 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.480 a force measure and things that I can't control, like 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.840 earthquakes and pandemics and tsunamis, and like, I don't really 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:50.800 know how things are going to go. But he actually 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.640 tends to blame the macroeconomic environment quite a bit, like 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.120 you know, on previous startings calls, he's he's really bashed 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.480 to FED and high interest rates and been like, look, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.320 you could sell more cars if interest rates were lower. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.359 The fact that interest rates are high is making the 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.040 cars too expensive for people, which is why they made 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.320 this big gambit to chase volume over profit margins. And 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:12.080 they could do that again. He could say we're going 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.600 to continue to dominate and we're going to cut prices, 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.919 and I mean that would be one strategy. It's just 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.679 that then the margins are much smaller. But you know, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.159 Tesla has room to play with their margins, and we 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:24.800 could see that again in twenty twenty four. 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.000 It also seems like there's like a real guidance and 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.680 then an Elon Musk guidance. Elon will throw in hey, 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.320 like anything's possible, like full self drive. There's this whole 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.080 other category of stuff that doesn't relate to like number 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.000 of units sold or like margins where the guidance is 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.720 whacked out, and kind of everyone agreed. Everyone understands that 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.000 this is like, these are not real timelines. These are 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.560 Elon Musk timelines. You know. I was reading an analyst 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.719 note that Dana sent me just before we went on, 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.160 and they're talking about the question of robotaxis as anywhere 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.080 from three years to a decade out like that. That's 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.080 the timeline that this analyst was suggest which is like 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.480 a huge range, and it reflects the fact that Elon 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.719 Musk has essentially said robotaxis are just around the corner 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.919 basically every year for almost a decade. So it's like 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.959 very confusing and analysts have just learned to, I think, 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:17.240 just kind of ignore slash discount some of those wilder promises. 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.520 And now for the really fun part. The brains behind 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:33.240 Elon Inc. Have created a special bingo card which you 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.960 can download at Bloomberg dot com, slash Elon Inc. Or 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.359 on the Mini BusinessWeek social media accounts. Max, what is 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.919 earnings bingo and how do I play along? Okay, so 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.439 earnings bingo is this is a thing that exists. 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:47.720 We did not invent this you know, all credit to 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.440 the Elon stands out there on Twitter as well as 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.719 the Elon critics, the tesla Q army. Basically anyone who 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.760 has an opinion about this guy has been making these 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.399 bingo cards for years. 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.159 And the idea is you. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:02.800 Have a card the one that we have, which you 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.600 can go to Bloomberg dot com slash Elon Inc. And 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.239 download and it's twenty four squares. It's plus I love it, 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.760 plus the free space. I'll just tell you, so, some 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.119 of these are are ones that I think are definitely 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.439 gonna happen like these are. This is like easy money 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.000 some of these. So so for instance, through the Okay, 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.960 so we've got B I n G G four that's 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:27.680 cyber truck. 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.280 That's come on. That's a gimme. That's practically a free space. 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.360 Now B one is definitely less likely, I would say, 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.080 and that one's audibly puffs joint. So, as I understand it, 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.800 like my job at Bloomberg now, at least part of 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.639 my job anyway, is I'm gonna be listening to that 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.800 podcast as the you know, person who has to listen 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:49.600 for the audible joint puffing. By the way, sorry, B 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.440 two because It's not enough to just puff a joint. 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:54.560 It has to be it has to be audible. 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:56.600 Dan, do you have a favorite on here that you're 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.160 gonna hopefully get to scratch out. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:01.560 Yes. I think what's really interesting is, you know, Elon 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.240 just has this very peculiar way of speaking that all 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.960 of his fans then adopt. And I am a big fan. 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.600 I forget what the square is, but reasonably optimistic, because 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.920 you know, Elon will say I'm reasonably optimistic that we'll 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.600 have full self driving at the end of the year, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.480 or I'm reasonably optimistic that we will, you know, sell 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.520 fifty thousand cyber trucks in twenty twenty four. And so 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.960 the Bingo card is really about Musk and his language 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.800 and his very unique use of language and how he 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.280 invents all these words that then enter the lexicon, like 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.600 gigafactory is not a real word, but Elon started calling 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.320 his battery plant a gigafactory, and now every automaker in 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.119 every battery company on the planet talks about how they 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.440 have a gigafactory. Similarly, megapack like what the hell is 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:49.960 a mega pack? It's Tesla's name for their like utility 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:52.359 scale battery products. So I mean, I would love to 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:54.680 get a like linguist on the phone someday to talk 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.480 to us all about this. But his use of language 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.000 is very unique and it is adopted by his life 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.080 regions of fans. And the other thing about the earnings 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.800 calls is that like tens of thousands of people listen 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.080 to them, like employees listen to them, fans listen to them, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.520 like a lot of people dial in and listen. And 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.760 it's not just like Wall Street analysts. It's like hundreds 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:17.600 of thousands of people. 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:19.960