Investor Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC dismissed arguments made by bullish supporters of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), who opined that Elon Musk was deliberately slowing down the EV giant’s Robotaxi ramp to induce a merger with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX).
Gary Black Dismisses ‘Absurd’ Argument
In a post on X on Thursday, Black rubbished the idea that Musk was slowing down Tesla’s Robotaxi ramp on purpose. The investors said that arguments saying “Elon is holding back TSLA’s robotaxi scale-up so $SPCX can buy $TSLA at a relatively cheap valuation” were “absurd.”
The investor pointed towards “massive dilution” that would result from the transaction, given valuation concerns with both the commercial space flight giant and Tesla. Black also outlined “the governance issues” that could arise due to the strategy.
“We remain cautious on $TSLA due to declining earnings estimates, the coming commoditization of unsupervised autonomy, and a seemingly extended valuation,” the investor said.
Tesla Texas Crash, PR Woes
Black had earlier lamented Tesla’s lack of a "proactive" PR strategy, which leads to there being no communication from the brand’s side to balance the narrative. The comments came as Tesla is under scrutiny over a fatal crash in Texas last week, which resulted in the death of a 76-year-old woman, whose family has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Tesla.
The driver of the vehicle claimed that the vehicle was on Autopilot, according to local law enforcement officials, something which Musk denies. However, both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Zoox Robotaxi
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) owned Zoox unveiled its updated Robotaxi, promising a smoother overall experience for passengers. The company has touted that it can produce over 100 units per week. Zoox also said that it had completed over 500,000 rides.
According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, Tesla provides excellent Growth, but fails to provide a favorable price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term.
Price Action: Tesla shares were down 1.31% to $376.60 during premarket trading on Thursday
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
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