Speaking to automotive news site Jalopnik.com yesterday via Internet chat, Tesla chief executive officer/Space Exploration Technologies Corp. founder Elon Musk expressed plans of forming his own holding company for Tesla electric car and SpaceX rocket launch shares. Musk also said that an initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX may take place sometime in 2013. Stocks of Tesla Motors Inc. currently trade under the stock symbol TSLA – as of yesterday, TSLA stock remained stationary at $28.41.
Yesterday, Musk told Jalopnik that He is “starting to consider whether it would make sense to create a parent corporation that would own the (Tesla and SpaceX) stock.” He added that he still isn’t sure whether it will be a feasible plan, but is currently considering his options. The 41-year-old Musk is also the primary investor in TSLA stock. As for SpaceX, the private company is the first of its kind to provide a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Earlier in August, SpaceX had accepted a $440 million government contract for cargo spacecraft development.
Tesla’s plans going forward involve the introduction of what Musk refers to as an “electric supercar,” possibly after the Model X battery-powered SUV is launched next year. This would provide high-end consumers with an electric-based alternative to cars made by manufacturers like Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. In the same conversation with Jalopnik, Musk said that Tesla is planning to release such a vehicle “at some point.” Tesla is primarily known as an electronic roadster maker, although vehicles such as the Model S sedan are expected to make the company profitable in the first half of 2013.
Regarding the creation of a parent entity for both Tesla and SpaceX, Musk told Bloomberg yesterday that he doesn’t have any plans of doing so, as it can get complicated to have more than one company where he is the only “connection.”
