馬斯克向股東承認縮手：特斯拉私有化計劃流產

這兩天特斯拉很熱鬧，馬斯克看起來心情亂糟糟。

24 日，特斯拉美國加州費利蒙工廠發生火災，特斯拉 CEO 馬斯克表示，原因是圍牆附近的紙板箱起火，至於這次火災會給工廠生產帶來多大的負面影響，目前還不得而知。

8 月初，馬斯克在 Twitter 放出想私有化特斯拉的消息，馬斯克試圖藉沙烏地阿拉伯主權基金的資金幫助以每股 420 美元的價格完成特斯拉私有化。

出於對資本市場做空者的深惡痛絕，加上沙烏地阿拉伯主權基金在 2017 年就對此表現出興趣，馬斯卡克才下定決心要私有化特斯拉。

我正在考慮將特斯拉私有化，因為我相信這對股東有利，讓特斯拉能以最佳狀態營運，並推動我們加速向可持續能源轉變的願景。

不過馬斯克還是沒能頂住壓力，25 日給股東的公開信宣告私有化計畫流產。有趣的是，凡事都喜歡在 Twitter 提前曝光的馬斯克這一次選擇了沉默。

不難看出，他的心情很不好。

以下是公開信原文（翻譯來自網路，感謝譯者）：

放棄私有化

馬斯克 2018 年 8 月 24 日

8 月稍早，我宣布考慮將特斯拉私有化。私有化進程的一部分，最重要就是了解目前投資者是否認為這是一種合適的戰略，以及投資者是否願意參與特斯拉私有化。

投資者對特斯拉來說非常重要。2010 年，當我們還只是展望願景，並沒有真正生產汽車時，投資者就毅然決然支持。投資者的信任是推動公司發展的動力，並幫助我們取得成功。

我曾與銀湖、高盛和摩根士丹利接觸，這些機構在各領域都有世界級專業水準，考慮到特斯拉私有化過程的許多因素，以及私有化交易的資金來源，我還花了很多時間聽取股東意見，無論持股多少，我都要了解大家的想法，究竟哪種做法才最符合特斯拉的長期發展利益。

基於過去幾週與各機構和股東接觸討論的結果，以及對公司發展最有利因素的考慮，我介紹目前最新的進展給大家。

首先結合我收到的反饋，很明顯特斯拉大多數股東都認為，當一家上市公司對特斯拉更有利。此外一些機構股東也認為，他們有一些內部規定，限制了對私營公司的投資額度。

如果特斯拉私有化，那麼大多數散戶投資者也沒有辦法繼續持有公司股票。儘管我接觸的股東大多數都表示如果特斯拉私有化，依然還會繼續持有公司股票。但總體來看，目前特斯拉私有化的動力和意願明顯不足，大家都不太同意這麼做。

其次，儘管我已有過程會充滿挑戰的心理準備，但很明顯，實際情況要比我最初預期的更消耗精力和時間。這是很大的問題，因為我們目前必須要專注於增加 Model 3 產能，並達成盈利。除非我們在財政有持續資金來源，否則無法實現推進可持續能源發展的使命。

但我依然相信，特斯拉依然會獲得夠多資金。

考慮所有因素之後，昨天我與特斯拉董事會接觸，決定讓大家知道私有化的最新進度是更好的選擇，董事會也同意。

展望未來，我們會繼續關注特斯拉最重要的使命：打造消費者喜愛的產品，並對地球的環境和未來繼續努力。我們已經證明，特斯拉可以做出偉大的可持續發展能源汽車，現在我們要證明公司有持續盈利的能力。我們已在 Model 3 取得初步進展，公司和團隊也做好繼續努力的準備。

感謝所有投資者、消費者和員工，感謝大家給予特斯拉如此多的關注和支持。能領導特斯拉這樣的上市公司繼續發展，我感到非常驕傲。

英文原文：

Staying Public

Elon Musk August 24, 2018

Earlier this month, I announced that I was considering taking Tesla private. As part of the process, it was important to understand whether our current investors believed this would be a good strategic move and whether they would want to participate in a private Tesla.

Our investors are extremely important to me. Almost all have stuck with us from the time we went public in 2010 when we had no cars in production and only a vision of what we wanted to be. They believe strongly in our mission to advance sustainable energy and care deeply about our success.

I worked with Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who have world-class expertise in these matters, to consider the many factors that would come into play in taking Tesla private, and to process all the incoming interest that we received from investors to fund a go-private transaction. I also spent considerable time listening to current shareholders, large and small, to understand what they think would be in the best long-term interests of Tesla.

Based on all the discussions that have taken place over the last couple of weeks and a thorough consideration of what is best for the company, a few things are clear to me:

• Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company. Additionally, a number of institutional shareholders have explained that they have internal compliance issues that limit how much they can invest in a private company. There is also no proven path for most retail investors to own shares if we were private. Although the majority of shareholders I spoke to said they would remain with Tesla if we went private, the sentiment, in a nutshell, was “please don’t do this.”

• I knew the process of going private would be challenging, but it’s clear that it would be even more time-consuming and distracting than initially anticipated. This is a problem because we absolutely must stay focused on ramping Model 3 and becoming profitable. We will not achieve our mission of advancing sustainable energy unless we are also financially sustainable.

• That said, my belief that there is more than enough funding to take Tesla private was reinforced during this process.

After considering all of these factors, I met with Tesla’s Board of Directors yesterday and let them know that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public. The Board indicated that they agree.

Moving forward, we will continue to focus on what matters most: building products that people love and that make a difference to the shared future of life on Earth. We’ve shown that we can make great sustainable energy products, and we now need to show that we can be sustainably profitable. With all the progress we’ve made on Model 3, we’re positioned to do this, and that’s what the team and I are going to be putting all of our efforts toward.

Thank you to all of our investors, customers and employees for the support you’ve given our company. I’m incredibly excited to continue leading Tesla as a public company. It is a privilege.

（本文由 愛范兒 授權轉載；首圖來源：Flickr/OnInnovation CC BY 2.0）