Of a Seeking Alpha poster who has been critical of Tesla's financials?

Guy posted regular articles, many dissecting the financial statements, under a pseudonym. Evidently said something during a podcast that upset Musk to the point where once he was doxxed, Musk called his boss.

I just can't fathom a CEO of a $50 billion company going to such lengths to disrupt an anyonomous, critic on a peer created investing site.

Ulrich said:

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This is the sort of thing Skilling started doing at Enron right before the end.

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Ok I'll bite.
What did Musk do? What is doxxing?

Any guesses how that conversation went?

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"Hey it's Elon. Did you know your employee is criticizing my company Tesla online? Telling lies, causing the stock to tank and me to lose money and orders. Just thought you should know how angry he makes me. You should feel bad that he doesn't support the transportation revolution to electric. Why do you have someone like this on your team. Someone like him can't be good. You can make this easy on yourself and fire him, or suffer the consequences if you don't. Okay, bye now."

Musk definitely seems unstable considering his penchant for letting people on social media get to him and this example.

Gordo14 said:

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Just another reason why I think Musk is a terrible person, and the hero worship for him is disgusting. Mind you I've felt this way for a couple years now, so I'm definitely biased.

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I think he has a personality disorder that drives him to success at any cost. A hint of cult leader personality that hypnotizes people.

Even people he laid off still love him, just seems not a normal reaction from some of these people to being laid off:
https://jalopnik.com/tesla-employees-still-love-elon-musk-even-after-theyre-1826825789

Ulrich said:

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This is the sort of thing Skilling started doing at Enron right before the end.

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Not sure if he doxxed anybody (or if that was even a thing then). My wife worked at Enron and says stories of Skilling acting like a-hole were common though. One of my favorites was when he cut in front of one the employees waiting in line to turn into the parking garage and then flipped them off when they got upset. This wasn't some random encounter, but at the entrance to the parking garage where you know you're all going to work at the same place.

He didn't dox anyone, probably because anonymous social media wasn't really a thing; seekingalpha want founded until 3 years later. He did go after external analysts and reporters on a personal level for questioning Enron's financials though.

I think stuff like this is part of his appeal to a lot of people. He's so emotionally invested in his work that he can't separate from it like a normal CEO would. His work is his life and success is his only option. When his company takes criticism he only sees a personal attack.

Full disclosure I am a Tesla and Elon fan. But yes I do think he is a little crazy

Doxxing has been around since before the internet. For those that partook in the (incredible fun) of the early 90s online pre consumer-Internet (BBS's and the like) and the first few years of the consumer-Internet, it was done quite often.

It's just more mainstream now because a lot more people have an online presence. Back then you'd dox someone just to find out who they were, their phone number and maybe where they lived. Now with as much data is out there getting doxxed means you can put together a timeline of someone's life without too much work.

It's a crazy story. The doxxed person is "Montana Skeptic", his bio states

"I manage a $1B+ portfolio for a family office. Our investments include bonds, equities, hedge funds, and private investments with a wide geographical and asset class dispersion. I have a J.D. degree from Yale Law School and practiced for 30 years as a trial lawyer in commercial cases."

Here's Montana Skeptics farewell letter, with his side of the story:

"Summary In which I bid farewell to Tesla analysis at Seeking Alpha.

And explain why I am departing.

A victory for Elon Musk? Perhaps. Of a dubious sort.

Yesterday, July 23, I decided to cease writing about Tesla (TSLA) here at the Seeking Alpha web site. I also deactivated my Twitter account, where I was @MontanaSkeptic1. Here is what prompted those decisions.

Yesterday afternoon, the principal of the family office in which I am employed received a communication from someone purporting to be Elon Musk. Doubtful that Elon Musk could actually be attempting to contact him, my employer asked one of my colleagues to investigate and respond.

My colleague then spoke by phone with Elon Musk (it was indeed him). Mr. Musk complained to my colleague about my writing at Seeking Alpha and on Twitter. Mr. Musk said if I continued to write, he would engage counsel and sue me.

My colleague then spoke with me about the phone call. We both agreed that Mr. Musk's phone call and threatened lawsuit were actions that would tend to involve our employer in matters in which he has had no part. To avoid such a consequence, I offered to immediately cease writing at Seeking Alpha and to deactivate my Twitter account.

How did Mr. Musk learn my identity, and that of my employer? It appears to me his information came thanks to the doxing efforts of some of his followers on Twitter.

Neither Mr. Musk nor Tesla has ever attempted, at any time, to contact me. Instead, Mr. Musk determined to go directly to my employer.

I do not know what Mr. Musk's precise complaints are about me. I do not believe he has any valid legal claim, and I would have no trepidation in defending myself vigorously were he to bring any claim. My response to his threats was simply to protect my employer and preserve my employment.

And so, you might say, Elon Musk has won this round. He has silenced a critic. But he has many, many critics, and he cannot silence them all, and the truth will out.

I am proud of everything I wrote at Seeking Alpha, and have immensely appreciated the extraordinary support of so many SA members and contributors.

It more than makes up for the endless mendacity and vicious personal attacks I have endured from many Tesla cultists and from publications such as Electrek and Teslarati.

All the articles and blog posts I have already published will continue to be available to Pro subscribers. These four articles, along with the blog posts, will remain on this side of the firewall:

Just Say 'No' To Tesla's Misleading Margin Metric

As Tesla Breaks Faith With Its Believers, It's Time To Go Short

Even With Model 3 Success, Tesla Is Structurally Bankrupt

Tesla Investors Swallow The Blue Pill

To anyone tempted to short Tesla, I urge you to again read the cautions in Part V of the second linked article.

I am hopeful my magnificent collaborator, CoverDrive, who has been loathe to himself become a contributor, will find a new home at Seeking Alpha under the aegis of another contributor.

With sadness, I say farewell. And, I thank you for the splendid ride.

Disclosure: I am/we are short TSLA.
Additional disclosure: I am short TSLA via long-dated options"

Here's his 23 reasons for shorting tsla: https://seekingalpha.com/amp/instablog/37229846-montana-skeptic/5138698-montana-skeptic-23-point-short-thesis-plus-caveats

Oh, I'm a big fan of Montanna Skeptic. As an MBa student and new to finance and accounting, I've used many Seeking Alpha articles to further my learning and his are some of the best. Typical companies don't have near the disconnect between their value and that of their financial statements.

I don't trust Musk. Just look at the Solar City deal. That was "about" synergy between the businesses, supposedly. Where's Tesla Energy today? What it was, was an equity bailoit of his and his cousin's failing solar business using the over priced equity of Tesla. Why more Tesla investors didn't raise hell over this is somewhat alarming. What it tells me is that pretty much almost every Tesla investor was also invested in Solar City.

I just don't understand the business plan of Tesla. Highly desired product with a great following (they do little advertising, but they're well known in their target customer demo). And yet, all they've done is burn cash and require more and more equity and debt. It's truly fascinating to see. If Musk could put ego aside and bring in some business focused executives and let them do what they know, I think it could be a profitable company. But their executive turnover has been high, especially in the areas they are struggling with, finance and operations. From "machines building machines" to "humans are underrated". That's a big shift in operations strategy, and for years, the story was that it Tesla's focus on automation that would eventually lead to the margins necessary to support their stock price. Then, everything changed and they've focused on using more labor. Questions about these developments have been labeled "boring" by Musk during earnings calls. Crazy.

Ulrich said:

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This is the sort of thing Skilling started doing at Enron right before the end.

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When I first read about this that incident was the first thing to come to mind. An analyst at Credit Sussie I believe?

dc509 said:

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Ulrich said:

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This is the sort of thing Skilling started doing at Enron right before the end.

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When I first read about this that incident was the first thing to come to mind. An analyst at Credit Sussie I believe?

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I don't remember which bank, but yeah. An analyst on an earnings call and I think a reporter as well. That's blood in the water.

I'm certainly not a Musk fan, but he's far past the point of being compared to a snake oil sales(wo)man.

Also remember his recent calling one of the Thailand Cave rescuers a "pedo" for no apparent reason other than the guy said that Musk's mini sub wouldn't have helped in the cave rescue.

That is flat bizarre, and apparently completely unfounded as Musk had to publicly apologize a few days later.

He is very thin skinned to criticism and lashes out at critics. Seems a bit unhinged.

Covered my short today. I lost half my gain just today.

Covered at 323.48. I guess I am a bit concerned about the Elon's battery technology and the fan boys are everywhere.

dc509 said:

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And his touchiness is increasing. On a conference call he basically told his investors that he couldn't be bothered with their concerns.

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He is dealing with stress and pressures we can't imagine, lives in the Silicon Valley bubble, gets a lot of hero worship, and he was a bit odd to start with. Combine them and you get to see him morph into Howard Hughes 2.0.

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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dc509 said:

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And his touchiness is increasing. On a conference call he basically told his investors that he couldn't be bothered with their concerns.

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He is dealing with stress and pressures we can't imagine, lives in the Silicon Valley bubble, gets a lot of hero worship, and he was a bit odd to start with. Combine them and you get to see him morph into Howard Hughes 2.0.

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He wouldn't be "dealing with stress and pressure we can't imagine" if he hadn't written a check to save his brother... and other cash flow issues.

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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dc509 said:

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And his touchiness is increasing. On a conference call he basically told his investors that he couldn't be bothered with their concerns.

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He is dealing with stress and pressures we can't imagine, lives in the Silicon Valley bubble, gets a lot of hero worship, and he was a bit odd to start with. Combine them and you get to see him morph into Howard Hughes 2.0.

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Although a horrible businessman, Hughes was cash flow positive (through the tool co.) and far more interesting.

He is legitimately unhinged and also likely believes the rules we all live by do not apply to him.

I agree with much of this thread. His Twitter is a complete jumble.



Edit: dp