TSLAQ
 |
| $TSLAQ | |
 | |
| Nickname | TESLAQ |
|---|---|
| Named after | NASDAQ notation for bankruptcy |
| Formation | Oct. 7, 2015 |
| Type | Anti-Tesla, Networked_advocacy, fraud_deterrence, Pro-Shorting |
| Origins | |
Region | International |
Key people | David Einhorn, Lawrence Fossi, Jim Chanos, Chris Irons of "Quoth the Raven", @TESLAcharts, @ElonBachman, @RealDrCassowary |
| Remarks | "3 months maybe, 6 months definitely" (repurposed from Elon Musk) |
TSLAQ is a loosely-collected group of individuals critical of Elon Musk and aspects of Tesla, Inc. who primarily organize on Twitter [1] in order to share news, openly discuss matters concerning the company and its stock, and coordinate efforts, primarily to lower the stock price of Tesla to earn money from the group's short selling activities. The group also shares a list of over 6000 twitter users who many preemptively block[2][3], which denies the blocked people from being able to comment on any of the group's posts, effectively creating an echo chamber. The group is largely anonymous [4] and individuals cite a variety of backgrounds [5]. The group has been the subject of criticism by clean energy information websites [6], and Tesla officials such as CEO Elon Musk have actively engaged prominent members by suggesting that shorting Tesla is a bad financial activity.[7] In the latest in a series of communications between the two, sarcastic open-letters were exchanged between Musk and CEO of Greenlight Capital David Einhorn in early November 2019, with Einhorn accepting Elon's offer to give him a tour through Tesla's facilities and activities.[8]
Tesla's mission statement is to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. TSLAQ members are less interested in these benefits of the company's actions, but rather focused on the CEO's personal actions and the potential future of Tesla's financials and products. As TSLAQ members are primarily short sellers, they have a financial incentive to harm the stock price of the company. This can be seen in action many times over the history of TSLAQ as members have seemingly intentionally made false statements about the company and its future[9] [list is currently ongoing, will be complete by December 24th, 2019].
Crowdfunding
Using GoFundMe, TSLAQ members led by former Seeking Alpha writer and Tesla short seller Lawrence Fossi ran a campaign for and contributed to the defense fund of fellow member, Randeep Hothi, who was initially sued by Tesla, accruing in excess of one-hundred thousand USD. Mr. Hothi allegedly chased a car full of Tesla employees and attempted to cause an accident by driving erratically to confuse the car's Autopilot system, among other things. The request for a temporary restraining order against Hothi was eventually dropped by Tesla.[10]
References
- ^ Mitchell, Russ (April 8, 2019). "Must Reads: The crowd-sourced, social media swarm that is betting Tesla will crash and burn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Planet, Machine. "blocktogether.org twitter block list". blocktogether. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
- ^ Planet, Machine (November 29, 2019). "Block List Tweet". Twitter. Archived from the original on November 29, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
- ^ Kolodny, Lora (February 1, 2019). "Anonymous Tesla short sellers who fly over its parking lots taking pictures of cars have a new web site". CNBC. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- ^ You are next!, Bloodsport Capital: (May 18, 2019). "In light of this exquisite piece from @cleantechnica, I believe it's high time for $tslaQ to show a few cards". @BloodsportCap. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Confessions of a Twitter TSLAQ Troll". CleanTechnica. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Musk, Elon (June 17, 2018). "How big is your short position? Just curious". twitter.com/elonmusk. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
- ^ Palazzo, Anthony, Hull, Dana (November 11, 2019). "Short seller Einhorn accept's Musk's offer to tour Tesla facilities". AFR. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Historian, Tesla (December 1, 2019). "FUDMAS CALENDAR 2019". Twitter. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ O'Kane, Sean. "Tesla drops lawsuit against critic after judge asks for evidence". The Verge. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)