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Elon Musk a frat boy? The mentality of the billionaire Tesla boss

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Elon Musk during SNL appearance

Elon Musk has been making headlines across the world in recent weeks – and now a journalist has told ticker NEWS the billionaire has a “frat boy mentality” – and it all mostly comes from his tweets

The billionaire Tesla boss recently sold a combined $7.8 billion worth of his shares in his EV company – a tactic he says is to pay tax.

Musk, at the age of 50, has sold 2.8 million shares worth about $3 billion USD specifically to pay taxes on three tranches of stock options that he exercised this week, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

That means he has sold roughly $6.9 billion more in shares than he needs at present

Under a compensation plan from 2012, Mr Musk has options to buy 26.4 million shares.

The options expire next year, and the tax bill will come due.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told Ticker News that he estimates the bill of the billionaire entrepreneur to be between $10 billion to $15 billion USD – depending on the stock price.

Mr Musk’s options so far allowed him to buy shares at $6.24 USD each, and the stock is selling for about $1080 USD.

When you think about it, it is a big tax bill, but questions loom as to why the 50 year-old sold more than he needs.

“Frat boy mentality”

When it comes to his personality and mentality – there are many questions with how Musk is behind closed doors.

Patrick McGee from the Financial Times spoke to Ticker News on Thursday, labels his attitude as like a “frat boy.”

We all know Elon Musk to be a vocal kinda guy but now JP Morgan is taking Tesla to court over such tweets

JP Morgan Chase is suing Tesla for $162million over tweets in 2018 by boss Elon Musk that claimed he could take the electric car maker private.

The multinational bank accused Tesla of “flagrantly” – meaning it breached a deal it claims should have triggered payments to JP Morgan.

Musk’s notorious tweets that he had funding to take Tesla off the New York stock market sparked volatility in the share price.

He later abandoned the move and was fined by the US financial regulator.

JP Morgan’s suit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, says the companies had an agreement signed in 2014 that allowed the bank to buy Tesla shares at a set price and date.

Elon Musk taken to court by multinational bank, JP Morgan chase / Image: File

This recent sales stunt isn’t all the busy EV boss has been getting up to

Over the course of the last fortnight, Musk has used his Twitter account as a platform to express his opinion, conduct polls and at times, interrupt the cryptocurrency market.

His actions to sell his Tesla stock came after he conducted a Twitter poll to his 60 million followers, asking them if he should as a way to pay off his taxes.

“Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10 per cent of my stock,” he wrote.

According to Mr Musk, 58 per cent of those who responded said yes.

Musk has conceded that much of his wealth is held up in stocks

The billionaire says much of his riches aren’t in physical cash, rather it’s being held up in stocks.

 “I have only stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock,” he wrote.

Musk started selling his shares on Monday, and as of Wednesday, he had liquidated about 5 per cent of his holdings.

According to reports, his federal tax obligations could be as high as 40 per cent on proceeds from some of the sales.

And who could forget Musk’s swing at Bernie Sanders?

Elon Musk was trolling yet again on his Twitter account this week (yes after he conducted the polls to sell his shares and blah blah blah) – and this time his target is US Senator Bernie Sanders

The billionaire has taken aim at a recent tweet from Mr Sanders which stated the rich must pay more tax

“I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” was the response from Mr Musk.

The Tesla boss then stated he’s willing to sell more of his EV stocks in order to pay more tax.

Sassy.

Anthony Lucas is reporter, presenter and social media producer with ticker News. Anthony holds a Bachelor of Professional Communication, with a major in Journalism from RMIT University as well as a Diploma of Arts and Entertainment journalism from Collarts. He’s previously worked for 9 News, ONE FM Radio and Southern Cross Austerio’s Hit Radio Network. 

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The “day of reckoning” for startups is here

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The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has uncovered the truth about the startup sector. What rose from the ashes of the GFC is now a bubble about to burst.

 
We are going to start right back in 2008. Remember the Global Financial Crisis? it was meant to have huge ramifications for the banking sector – And after all the collapses, all the redundancies, all the pain – we were told it could never happen again.

Well just a few weeks ago, the very foundations of our banking system were called into question – again.

Silicon Valley Bank may not be the world’s biggest, or even America’s biggest – but it did punch above its weight. Why? Because of its title. It was literally the bank of Silicon Valley.

The past 16 years have been extraordinary for the startup sector. Enormous growth multiples that defied the rest of Wall Street.

That is – until the music stopped in the investment community. All these startups that believed you could be worth a billion dollars on the back of buzz suddenly realised the money had run dry.
It’s now about good old-fashioned profit. It had to happen some time.

But it happened right after COVID – and right before all that stimulus money washing around the community had to be taken back. Interest rates had to rise, and suddenly all these startups had to withdraw their cash to survive.

Central Banks now find themselves at a horrible crossroads. Keep raising rates to fight inflation, but risk financial instability.

The job of central bankers is to keep banks stable. But in order to keep them stable, they have to raise rates to combat inflation, and the unintended consequences about that hit really hard.

The central banks are now contradicting themselves. To create stability, they have to create instability. It’s the problem with their blunt instruments.

Let’s take Silicon Valley Bank – More expensive money reduced the value of their securities portfolios and has made it likelier that depositors will flee to the big banks.

Did you hear that? So after creating the conditions that led to too much money in the economy, to now raising rates to claw it all back, that now led to instability in the financial system – the Fed doesn’t want to know.

Let’s bring it back to the poor depositors of Silicon Valley Bank – It’s a nightmare out there in startup land.

Economic fear and funding uncertainty has put startup-founder mental health in a tailspin. Many suffer in silence because they worry that talking about it will worry investors that the sector is in trouble.

The startup economy of today is eerily similar to the banking sector of 2007 right before the financial crisis – with companies dangerously close to the edge. #Silicon Valley bank #svb #credit suisse #fed reserve #silicon valley

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Accenture to axe 19,000 jobs

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The tech consulting firm says economic conditions have brought on the move

Accenture has announced it will be slashing 19,000 jobs at the tech consulting firm.

It’s all part of a proposal to cut costs to deal with a tight economic environment.

The company says it won’t put a freeze on hiring despite 2.5 per cent of staff departing in the next 18 months.

In a statement, the company says “there continues to be significant economic and geopolitical uncertainty in many markets around the world, which has impacted and may continue to impact our business.”

The company is expecting annual revenue growth to be up to 10 per cent for this year, which is a slight downgrade on pervious estimates.

The axing comes amid Meta and Amazon are downsizing their workforce.

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Etihad Airways in trouble over emissions reduction plans

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Australia’s consumer watchdog is considering action

Etihad Airways is in hot water over allegations it lied about its emissions reduction plans.

Australia’s consumer watchdog is now considering action against the airline as the body crackdown on so-called greenwashing.

It follows two Etihad advertisements that appeared on digital advertising banners during a football match at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on 15 February last year.

The ad had the words “net zero emissions by 2050” next to its logo.

In another commercial, the airline claimed “Flying shouldn’t cost the Earth”.

Flight Free Australia claims the ads convey the misleading impression that flying with Etihad does not have a significant environmental impact and Etihad intends to achieve net zero by 2050.

But the group says middle eastern airline has no credible path to net zero emissions by this date and it is not “technologically, practically, or economically feasible” to reach this goal.

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