Tesla's () success is unquestionable.
The company of electric cars and solar panels, which was established in 2003, is valued at over $1 trillion dollars at the time of its last inspection. The company has managed to produce roughly a million vehicles in 2021 and plans to manufacture 1.5 million in 2022, according to its CEO.
Tesla is the world leader in the electric vehicle market. But behind the scenes, Musk has just relinquished. It focuses on the founders behind the success story. On April 14, a serial entrepreneur was asked by Chris Anderson.
"If you could return in time and change one decision you made along the way, [...]any decision over the past few years, like your decision to invest in Twitter in the first place, anything?"
"Tesla Was a Shelf Company," says the narrator.
"The worst business decision I ever made was not starting Tesla with JB Straubel. By far the worst decision I've ever made is not just starting Tesla with JB. That's far from the point," the billionaire said, refering to Tesla's long-time chief technology officer who died in 2019.
"There's a lot of worry," Musk said. "Tesla was a shelf company with no employees, no intellectual property when I invested, but a false narrative has been created by one of the other co-founders, Martin Eberhard. I don't want to invest in a company here, but I didn't trust JB and me. In fact, there was someone else, which said in his life's intent to make it sound like he established the company, which is false."
As we can see, the question of who founded Tesla is a topic that disturbs Musk. Almost everyone in the world was able to continue the debate on Twitter a few days later.
A Twitter user posted a message on April 21, implying that Musk did not find Tesla, he rather purchased it.
"Elon Musk was not the owner of Tesla, but he acquired it. Just reminding" the user.
Another user responded. Obviously, Musk is a fan since he came to the defense of the tech giant by saying that without Musk Tesla would have long disappeared.
"Semantics. He invested in a glorified kitset car company with unworkable technology," this user said. "Then he changed the business model, raised significant money, forged new technologies, and created a completely new industry."
Solomon's judgment
The mogul was at this point intervening to clarify his point of view.
"Not even close to that, it was a shell corp with no employees, no IP, no designs, no prototype, literally nothing but a biz plan to commercialize AC Propulsion's Tzero automobile, which was introduced to me by JB Straubel, *not* Eberhard.
"Tesla Motors" was owned by others."
He continued:
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If filing a shell corp would be "founding a company," then I'd be the only founder of PayPal, since I filed the original incorporation documents for http://X.com (later renamed PayPal), but that's not what a founding term translates.
Confronted with this heated debate, the billionaire made a point that he put everything he had in the balance for Tesla, unlike his competitors, namely Martin Eberhard, the first CEO of Tesla, who was forced to leave his duties in November 2007.
"I put in everything I had, while Eberhard, who was valued at over $10 million at the time, refused to invest a penny to assist Tesla," Musk said. "If it was really his baby, he would never have stood by while he was suffering to death."
Musk included this last message with the painting Judgment of Solomon from Nicolas Poussin, a French artist. The judgment of Solomon illustrates a fascinating journey of biblical inspiration, especially from the Old Testament (I Kings 3: 16-28).
Two women seek justice from King Solomon. Each one has a child of the same age, but one died by accidental suffocation during his sleep. Each indicates that the living child is her.
Solomon informed that the child should be separated into two so each mother should have a half. Immediately, the other woman offered it to save the child's life, whereas the other agreed to the proposal. The false mother was thus exposed, and Solomon reintroduced the living child to its real mother.
There is no doubt Musk, who wrote at around 5 a.m. about Solomon's Judgment, believes he is "the true father of son Tesla."
Attempts to reach Eberhard were unsuccessful. According to his father, he retired in January from many of his professional activities.
Eberhard describes his new "job" as "enjoying life." "Retired Full-time."
Eberhard briefly led the development of electric cars for Volkswagen in the United States, as well as the future behind Atieva, now Lucid Motors LCID, one of Tesla's fiercest competitors.
Litigation
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to demonstrate that people didn't have to compromise to drive electric vehicles that electric automobiles are more capable, quicker, and more fun to drive than gasoline automobiles, without naming the "engineers."
While no one disputes Musk's behavior with Tesla, it must be recognized that Martin Eberhard, the founding fathers of the automotive business are Marc Tarpenning, and his friend and business partner.
Eberhard's passion for sports cars led to the creation of Tesla. He is said to have asked AC Propulsion to construct a lithium-ion cell instead of one with lead-acid batteries. He wanted an electric sports vehicle, but there was none. This then entaild the Tesla Roadster.
Tesla CEO Eric Eberhard was fired in November 2007 and was replaced by Musk. When he left, Tesla was at the early stage of the Model S sedan. The company now has four models: Model S sedan, Model 3 sedan, Model X SUV, and Model Y SUV.
In May 2009, Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Tesla and Musk, defending the billionaire's right to re-establish Tesla. A confidential settlement was reached between the parties in September 2009. According to the confidential settlement, Eberhard and Musk acknowledged that they co-founded Tesla with three other people -- J.B. Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright. All three have left the company.
