Tesla, Inc. is an American company dealing with clean energy and electric vehicles based in California. The Company engages in the manufacturing, development, sale, and design of electric vehicles, storage systems, and energy generation. It has created a service center for vehicles, capability in self-driving, and a supercharging station. This has enabled the Company to operate within various segments in Energy and Automotive, and storage. The automotive section involves the sale, manufacture, development, and design of electric vehicles. The energy storage and generation segments involve manufacturing, designing, leasing, selling, and leasing of energy storage and solar systems. This section also deals sale of electricity that is generated by the solar system for energy to the customers. As a result, the Company can develop products in energy storage for application in utility sites, commercial facilities, and at home. This paper creates a broad spectrum of Tesla Company by focusing on its management and financial journey.
Bios of top executives and Board of Directors
Larry Ellison, also the co-founder of Kathleen Thompson-Wilson and Oracle, was announced to join the boards of directors in Tesla, December 2018. This appointment was a result of the failure by Elon Musk to initiate the Company as private. Ellison seemed to have high trust in the Company after purchasing shares of three-million dollars. Robyn Denholm, a director at Tesla, having an experience in automotive since 2014, was a director and chaired the company’s board. She was head of operations and CFO at Telstra in 2018, where she left after a notice (Rapier, 2018). Ira Ehrenpreis, the founder of the DBL partners, has served on Tesla’s governance board since 2007. Also, he is an investor in Planet and Space X while serving at Accelergy and MapBox boards. He holds an MBA and law degree from Stanford and serves in the governance, nominating, and compensation committee of Tesla.
The Chief executive officers and co-founder of Tesla Company are Elon Musk. Also, he is the product architect, director, and a driving force in the Tesla motors. The native South African is also the CEO and the chief technology officer (CTO) in SpaceX and the chair of the SolarCity. Musk has announced his intentions in the SolarCity acquisition and focuses on creating an integrated firm with renewable energy to become the greatest provider in solar panels and storage batteries. Further, he is a trustee in Musk’s foundation that actively promotes green technology along with renewable sources of energy development. Previously, he prevails an entrepreneurial success by being a co-founder in PayPal, a payment firm.
Zachary J. Kirkhorn assumed the Chief financial officer (CFO) position in March 2019, succeeding the previous CFO, Deepak Ahuja. Kirkhorn brought over 20 years of experience from global automotive to the awarded role. Kirkhorn had previously assumed different financial positions in Tesla, working in the Company since 2010 (Rapier, 2018). Before embracing the role of CFO, Kirkhorn was the vice-president, business and financial planning operations and finance in 2018, December to 2019 March. Further, he holds a degree from Pennsylvania University and MBA from Harvard.
Jerome Guillen is the automotive president in Tesla, a role he has held since 2018 September. However, he has been within the Company since 2007 and has conducted different leadership roles like the vice president and worldwide services and sales. Jerome has been the director of the model S program and worked in the automotive industry for most of his career life. He has a Ph.D. from Michigan University and a dual degree in mechanical engineering and energy technologies from the Escula Tecnica Superior de Ingenious Industriales.
Andrew Baglino took over Jeffrey Brian in 2019 and previously had the role of Chief Technology Officer. Baglino embraced a major responsibility from Straubel with the senior vice president title, energy engineering, and powertrain. Baglino joined the Company in 2006 and has a B.S. from Stanford University.
Jeffrey Brian Straubel, also known as J.B., acted as the chief technology officer for 15-years in Tesla motors and the founding team member of the Company. Musk, in July 2019, announced that Straubel would take the role of a senior advisor (Rapier, 2018). At Tesla, Straubel had the responsibility of over-engineering and technical designs for all vehicles in Tesla. Also, he was responsible for overseeing development and research, evaluating new designs and technology, diligence with main vendors, and system validating tests. Further, Straubel is a guest presenter and lecturer at Stanford University, where he teaches a class on integration in energy storage as an energy program.
Transactions or events in the last five years
In 2020, Tesla celebrated their 10th anniversary of being public. By this year, Tesla succeeded in placing their electric vehicles on the top radar for various buyers (Thompson, 2020). In March 2016, Musk revealed Tesla’s prototype mass-market car, model 3. The much-anticipated car might attain 215 miles per charge and accelerate 0-60mph in six seconds or less. The first deadly accident autopilot occurred in 2016 where the government regulators blamed this accident on the autopilot function of the model. Later in 2016, the Company announced purchasing a solar city for almost $2.6 billion. Musk revealed that Tesla was focused on a master plan, ‘Deux,’ which had four major goals; developing stunning solar roofs, affordable vehicles rollout, advancing the self-driving mode to become safer than manual, and creating a sharing program.
In 2017, the Company changed its name to Tesla Inc, beginning a new era of the energy company. In November 2017, Tesla unveiled the concept of the Tesla Roadster, with its price being at $250,000, depending on the client’s model of choice. Musk, in August 2018, announced his considerations of taking Tesla Private at $420, a share, and Musk was later sued for making misleading and false statements of Tesla shifting to private. In 2019, the project Shangai factory by Tesla broke the ground being the first automaker from western owning a factory in the state of China without joint ventures. In marc of the same year, Tesla announced its Model Y, a compact SUV with a range of 300 miles costing $47,000. In June 2020, Model S was the first E.V. to attain 400-miles range as rated by the EPA. The Company attained this by cutting or minimizing weight while maximizing regenerative braking.
Financials
Revenue is the amount attained by a firm from the clients in exchange for services and goods. The revenue is often the item in understanding the statement income in which all the expenses and costs get subtracted to attain the net income (Mehta & Bjavani, 2018). Tesla’s revenue growth as of 2021 quarterly was at $13.757B, an increase of 56.85% every year. Revenue for twelve months dated 30th September 2021 was at $46.848B, increasing 66.27% every year. The Company’s revenue was at 2020 was at $31.536B, an increase of 28.31% from the previous year. Tesla attained revenue of $24.578B in 2019, an increase of 14.52% from 2018. In 2018, the Company made a revenue of $21.461B, an increase of 82.51% from 2017.
Tesla Annual Revenue (Millions of US $)
| 2020 | $31,536 |
| 2019 | $24,578 |
| 2018 | $21,461 |
| 2017 | $11, 759 |
Tesla Quarterly Revenue (Millions of US $)
| Year/Month | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 31st March | $2,696 | $3,409 | $4,541 | $5,985 | $10,389 |
| 30th June | $2,790 | $4,002 | $6,350 | $6,306 | $11,958 |
| 30th September | $2,985 | $6,824 | $6,303 | &8,771 | $13,757 |
| 31st December | $3,288 | $7,226 | $7,384 | $10,744 | – |
Market performance
The Company is one of the most vulnerable companies globally, with a market cap estimated to be $1 trillion. The Company comprises of greatest sales in plug-in electric and battery electric vehicles by capturing over 16% of markets dealing in plug-in and 23% of the market in the purely electric battery. Through Tesla’s energy subsidiary, the Company expanded and has become one of the major installers in photovoltaic systems in the U.S. Also, Tesla is among the largest suppliers of storage systems in battery energy globally, and in 2020, it installed a three gigawatt-hours (GWh). Tesla in 2020 succeeded in placing an electric cars over the radar in various buyers who might not have contemplated them.
In 2020, it became a constituent of the S&P 500 and opened with a weighting of 1.69% index and the fifth largest. Investors, including the active managers and passive fund managers that apply the S&P 500 benchmark, embraced the shares by Tesla that pushed the stock by 6% (Mehta & Bjavani, 2018). The increasing company shares resulted in Tesla having a market capitalization greater than $658 billion.
Major Tesla competitors in the market include the traditional auto firms such as Ford Motor Company, founded in 1903, and General Motors, which started in 1908. By 2021 July, Tesla inc. had gained a $680 billion market cap compared to Ford and General Motors, which gained $57 billion and $82 billion, respectively (Cheng, 2021). Other automakers active in the industry include Hyundai, Volvo, Volkswagen, Mazda, Kia, and Honda. Despite the traditional automakers creating gasoline-electric hybrid cars and pure electric vehicles like Nisan leaf, Tesla stills hold a high-cache status not yet reproduced by the automakers.
Prospects and investment recommendations
Tesla motos inc. is a stock high-rewarding and is ranked an interesting company globally. Musk, a founder of a controversial technology in Silicon Valley, could boost the expectations of investors. Tesla has attracted attention where the Company attained a market-cap trillion-dollar stratospheric valuation that has attained megatitans globally (Ross, 2021). Tesla holds a greater potential for predicting difficult TSLA investors that could tamper expectations with potential risks faced in coming years. However, one should take measures while investing in the expensive Tesla brand. Despite tax breaks from alternative technology and Tesla consumer Model S, it has faced great tags before discounts or incentives.
When investing in Tesla Inc., it is significant to review the low prices of gas wherein 2015; the Company had lost its luster. The gas quandary by TSLA is increased by the production oil company that is debunked by increasing production. With the aid of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing that is effective in extracting oil. Suppose Tesla generates consistent and auto manufacturer that could transition when cheap alternatives that are petroleum-based transition.
References
Cheng Marguerita (2021). Who are Tesla’s (TSLA) Main Competitors? https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/120314/who-are-teslas-tsla-main-competitors.asp
Mehta A & Bjavani G (2018). Financial Statement Analysis on Tesla. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330523457_Financial_Statements_Analysis_on_Tesla?enrichId=rgreq-0c159ada7653dc17b2adc2bee2d70cdc-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMzMDUyMzQ1NztBUzo3NDM4NDE4NTAxOTU5NjhAMTU1NDM1NzEyNTU5OA%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf
Rapier G (2018). Tesla has named two new board members- here is the full list of company directors. https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-board-of-directors-full-list-elon-musk-chairman-replacement-2018-8?r=US&IR=T
Ross S (2021). 6 Big Risks of Investing in Tesla Stock. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/102815/biggest-risks-investing-tesla-stock.asp
Thompson C (2020). Tesla is celebrating its 1oth year as a public company today. Here are the most important moments in its history. (TSLA). https://africa.businessinsider.com/tech/tesla-celebrates-its-10th-year-as-a-public-company-today-here-are-the-most-important/2wj99ec
write