Elon Musk has announced that he plans to keep Tesla public just weeks after announcing he wanted to take it private. The decision comes after getting feedback from shareholders who said that while they would stick with Tesla if it went private, they’d still prefer it if it stayed public. Musk admitted that while he knew the process would be challenging, he didn’t realise just how time-consuming and distracting it would actually be.
At this time, Musk said he wants to focus on ramping up Model 3 production. In a blog post, he said:
“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.”
After raising thinking over these issues, Musk raised them with Tesla’s Board of Directors to let them know that he believes it would be better for the company to remain public, which the board agreed with. Musk topped off the announcement by confirming that he is “incredibly excited” to continue leading Tesla as a public company and now the firm will focus on making sustainable energy products sustainably profitable.