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How Elon Musk Found Stock Success in 2020 | WSJ - YouTube
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- When I have spent too much
time in a conference room,
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that's generally when
things have gone awry
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and when I go to spend
time on the factory floor,
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really using the cars,
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thinking about the rockets,
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that's where things have gone better.
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- [Narrator] And things appear
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to be going very well
for Elon Musk this year.
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- [Woman] We explore as one for all.
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- [Narrator] SpaceX launched
its first commercial vehicle
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to put humans in orbit.
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Tesla became the world's
most valuable automaker.
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♪ You added fuel ♪
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- [Narrator] And according
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to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index,
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Musk is now worth about $145 billion,
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making him the second
richest person on the planet.
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Richer than Bill Gates
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and second only to Jeff Bezos.
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- Most of Elon's worth is Tesla stock
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and he became the second richest person
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in the world this year
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because of Tesla's
stratospheric stock gains.
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I mean, the stock is up more than 500%
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since the start of the year.
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- [Narrator] As the
pandemic chokes the pace
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of business for many,
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Tesla says it's on track
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to deliver half a million cars in 2020.
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Tesla's also on track for
its first calendar year
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of profitability and just last month,
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the S&P announced that
it would add Tesla stock
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to the index.
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How has Elon Musk achieved
so much this year?
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And at what cost?
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- There appears to be no
material impact to Tesla
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and its goals for 2020
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as a result of the pandemic.
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This is in part due
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to Elon Musk making the decision
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to reopen his Fremont,
California-based car plant
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before he was given permission
by public health officials.
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And continue operating there
in spite of the pandemic.
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- [Narrator] Before defying local orders
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to reopen the plant,
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Musk threatened to move
operations out of California
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because of the restrictions.
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But in a CNBC interview,
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Governor Gavin Newsom
didn't seem concerned.
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- But I'm also not worried
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about Elon leaving any time soon.
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I'd had a lot of conversations with him.
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- [Narrator] Tesla relies
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on over 50,000 employees worldwide.
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The ones that helped meet Musk's
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ambitious delivery goals this year
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may have faced risks
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to keep the company operational.
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- Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla,
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is defying stay-at-home orders,
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daring authorities to arrest him
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by reopening his California factory.
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- While we don't have firm numbers
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from either public health officials
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or from Tesla itself,
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we know from various industry sources
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that Tesla workers have gotten
sick with COVID this year
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and Elon Musk himself did get COVID
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as he tweeted last month.
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But people got sick in this frantic push
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to deliver a record number of vehicles.
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- [Narrator] There's another reason Tesla
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was able to meet its 2020 delivery goals.
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- A word of thanks to one
of our customers in China
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without which Tesla
would not be here today.
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- [Narrator] This was the first year
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of production at the
company's Shanghai factory.
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Chinese officials say the
government gave Tesla workers PPE,
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which may have kept production going
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during the pandemic.
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- [Heather] And Elon Musk
and other Tesla executives
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have told shareholders
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that the lower cost of labor there
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has greatly helped the
company over this past year.
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- [Narrator] Advancements
in battery technology
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also helped Tesla's stock gain,
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as well as government regulations
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that incentivize electric
vehicle production and ownership.
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- [Heather] Batteries are cheaper,
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cars can go longer on a charge
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and there is a broader trend
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toward electrification
of vehicles being pushed
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by consumer demand
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and by regulation that we see
particularly in California,
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Tesla's home state, which is
getting investors more excited
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about opportunities there.
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- [Narrator] Four, three.
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- [Narrator] The US
government has played a role
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in the success of SpaceX
this year as well.
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- I think it's incredibly important
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that government focus on
incenting the outcome,
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not the path.
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- [Narrator] In August, SpaceX won
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a multi-billion dollar contract
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to become one of the primary
satellite launch providers
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for the Pentagon.
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In October, they won another
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as part of a proposed Pentagon
missile warning system.
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And a month later,
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NASA partnered with
SpaceX for the company's
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first human operational
mission into space.
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- [Narrator] Ignition, liftoff.
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(rocket whooshing)
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- [Narrator] Elon Musk
has his hand in a bunch
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of other projects as well
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though none of have been as
successful as Tesla or SpaceX.
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- These include The Boring Company,
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which is all about building
tunnels underground
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to solve the problem of traffic.
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- I mean, you can think
of these as wormholes
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and I need to get to the
other side of LA or New York
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or whatever, drop down the wormhole.
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Pop out the other side.
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- [Narrator] He's also
working on a hyperloop project
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that uses magnetic levitation,
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steel tubes and vacuum pumps
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for ultra high-speed travel
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and an AI-powered brain
implant called Neuralink.
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- In a lot of ways,
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it's kinda like a Fitbit in your skull
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with tiny wires.
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- Which you're all just pandas,
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made-up junk basically.
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So he has a lot of stuff going on
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but I would say most of
those projects just seem
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like they are decades away
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from fruition if they're
coming to fruition at all.
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- [Narrator] Looking ahead to 2021,
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Musk has doubled down on some
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of the promises he made for 2020.
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- Hewlett really knows cells.
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This is a massive breakthrough.
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- He's promised to deliver on advancements
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on battery technology
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that he unveiled in September.
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He's also talked
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about delivering possibly a
million vehicles next year
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and you'll remember his promise this year
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was 500,000 vehicles,
which seemed a stretch
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and so these are huge, huge expectations.
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- [Narrator] But this
year's successes aside,
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Musk has a history of failing to deliver
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on some of his promises.
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(upbeat music)
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Like the long-awaited all-electric
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semi-truck trailer he said
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would come to market more than a year ago.
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- So if you order now, you'll
have the truck in three years.
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- [Heather] This is classic Elon Musk,
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over promising and under delivering
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and being way behind timelines
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and if they had launched
before the pandemic hit,
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they might have had a better opportunity.
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- [Narrator] Given this history,
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analysts and investors say
some of his grand ambitions
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for 2021 will likely not be met.
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Or at least not met without setbacks.
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Musk says Wednesday's SpaceX
Starship spacecraft test flight
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was a success
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despite the explosive crash landing.
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- [Heather] Tesla has never really
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been punished significantly
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by Wall Street for missing its targets
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so maybe there isn't much
of a financial downside
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for Elon Musk to make
these grand statements
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that often don't come true.
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- [Narrator] Tesla did not
respond to requests for comment.
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- We should make a song out of this.
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- Yeah.
- And so then.
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