Elon Musk’s infamous tweet declaring he had ‘funding secured’ at $420 per share to take Tesla private was sent one year ago today. Here’s what Tesla’s faced in the year since. (TSLA)

REUTERS/Noah Berger

The past year has been particularly chaotic for Tesla.
Exactly 12 months ago, Elon Musk tweeted his desire to take the company private.
That sparked a year marked by lawsuits, inquiries, executive departures and more.
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It’s been exactly one year since 60 simple characters caused months of headaches for Tesla, its executives, shareholders, and federal regulators.

Shares of Elon Musk’s electric-car company still haven’t hit the chief executive’s target of $420 per share in the 12 months since the infamous tweet. The billionaire’s resulting settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission only lasted so long, before the stock market regulator hit him with more legal headaches.

Here’s how Tesla’s dramatic four quarters since the failed go-private bid have panned out:

‘Am considering taking Tesla private at $420.’

Rashid Umar Abbasi/Reuters

Funding was anything but secured, it was later revealed, when Musk felt impassioned enough to announce his plans to the world around lunchtime on August 7, 2018.

Tesla’s stock price, understandably, skyrocketed toward the $420 target, hitting an intra-day peak of $387 — a 14% surge — before closing at $379.

In subsequent tweets, Musk explained his philosophy for leaving public exchanges, where companies are required to disclose financial information to investors every three months and are sometimes subject to more scrutiny.

Shareholders would have the option to sell at $420, or become private shareholders, Musk said. He added that the company would create a "special purpose fund" enabling them to remain investors.

Later that day, the SEC revealed in subsequent months, Tesla’s CFO texted Musk offering to draft an employee email alongside the company’s head of communications and lawyers. Musk agreed and the team got to work.

An email to employees

Reuters

The same day as his tweet, Musk sent an email to Tesla employees with more information that was later published on the company’s blog.

"First, a final decision has not yet been made, but the reason for doing this is all about creating the environment for Tesla to operate best," he said. "As a public company, we are subject to wild swings in our stock price that can be a major distraction for everyone working at Tesla, all of whom are shareholders."

The blog post made no mention of where the alleged funding support had been found, but did say that the bid to go private would require shareholder approval. Musk said he wanted Tesla employees to remain shareholders, as is the current practice, with options to periodically sell shares and exercise options to buy.

"Basically, I’m trying to accomplish an outcome where Tesla can operate at its best, free from as much distraction and short-term thinking as possible, and where there is as little change for all of our investors, including all of our employees, as possible," he wrote.

Another update on taking Tesla private

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

On August 13, almost a week after the surprising announcement, Musk finally laid out the "secured" funding source: Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund had been interested in a Tesla stake "going back two years," Musk said in another blog post. At the time, the fund owned a roughly 5% stake in the company on public exchanges.

"I left the July 31st meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed, and that it was just a matter of getting the process moving," Musk said. "This is why I referred to "funding secured" in the August 7th announcement."

However, funding was not secured.

"I continue to have discussions with the Saudi fund, and I also am having discussions with a number of other investors, which is something that I always planned to do since I would like for Tesla to continue to have a broad investor base," Musk said. "It is appropriate to complete those discussions before presenting a detailed proposal to an independent board committee."

That didn’t sit well with investors. By the end of the day, Tesla’s share price had fallen to 8% below its peak when the plan was announced.

To close the blog post, Musk said a special committee was being formed by the company’s board. If his plan is approved by the directors, it would be presented to shareholders, he said.

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