• alkbch@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        Elon’s company SpaceX has brought back the two stranded astronauts from the ISS just a week or two ago, easy to find news articles about this.

        Elon has founded SpaceX and lead it to the success it has today. It has also bought Tesla at a very early stage and lead it to the company it is today. Part of these successes is hiring the right people, taking risks and investing ungodly amounts of money when nobody else dared to. His wife even left him because he invested nearly all of the money from the PayPal IPO payout.

        Having said all of that, there is definitely some hype around Tesla as its valuation in the stock market is not objectively rational, it’s more of a meme stock at this point; but that doesn’t change fact that it is one of the US companies that did the most to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the US.

        • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Elon’s company SpaceX

          But not Elon specifically.

          Elon has founded SpaceX and lead it to the success it has today

          He founded spaceX but the success is down to the rocket scientists.

          Part of these successes is hiring the right people, taking risks and investing ungodly amounts of money when nobody else dared to.

          Agreed. Spotting talent and being lucky (risk taking + positive outcomes) are his defining qualities.

          Not leadership. Not personally flying or building rockets. Not caring about energy transition. You don’t solve climate change by going to Mars.

          • alkbch@lemmy.ml
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            4 days ago

            The success is down to the team, not the rocket scientist alone. Guess who gathered, motivated and paid the team?

            One doesn’t create several companies that are leader in the energy transition if they do not care about energy transition.

            I understand all the hate Elon Musk is getting currently but pretending he did not lead several companies to great success is just bizarre.

            • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              The success is down to the team, not the rocket scientist alone.

              A minute ago you were saying that Elon personally flew astronauts back from the ISS. Now it’s all about the team.

              Guess who gathered, motivated and paid the team?

              Not arguing about this part.

              One doesn’t create several companies that are leader in the energy transition if they do not care about energy transition.

              One doesn’t try to get to Mars if one cares about Earth. Tesla is not environmentally optimised. Green Elon was just marketing.

              https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/elon-musk-green-credentials-clean-energy-climate-deniers

              I understand all the hate Elon Musk is getting currently but pretending he did not lead several companies to great success is just bizarre.

              Lead is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. Funded is a better verb. No other CEO has time to lead and tweet 70x a day.

              • alkbch@lemmy.ml
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                4 days ago

                No, I didn’t say Elon personally flew astronauts back from the ISS, you are being pedantic because you know the bigger picture contradicts your narrative.

                I’ve given you enough elements, you’re free to keep thinking Tesla didn’t massively contribute to the energy transition if you want.

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          His wife even left him because he invested nearly all of the money from the PayPal IPO payout.

          No, he was the one who filed for divorce, to propose to a woman 13 years younger than his first wife (he at 37 wanted to trade his 36 year old wife for a 23 year old wife). From papers served to his then-current wife to having a 23 year old fiancee was about 6 weeks.

          Generally speaking, Musk’s business success is marked by being in the right place and the right time with someone else making the actual substantive calls about exactly how the business is run. When he gets opinionated and have businesses yield to his specific desires, it tends to produce bad results.

          • alkbch@lemmy.ml
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            4 days ago

            Yes you are right, he is the one who filed for divorce however his wife acknowledged he invested much of his money into his ventures, particularly Tesla and SpaceX, during financially challenging times; which lead to tensions in the family.

            That’s perfectly understandable btw, I wouldn’t be happy if my spouse invested most of the family wealth into risky ventures too.