'Woohoo:' A member of Tesla's board had an emphatic reaction to Elon Musk announcing he no longer wanted to take the company private
- After Elon Musk announced he no longer planned to take Tesla private, a Tesla board member let out an excited whoop, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The decision came after a tumultuous few weeks in which Musk and Tesla scrambled to recover from Musk's sudden 'funding secured' tweet in which he announced he was taking Tesla private.
Elon Musk wasn't the only one relieved to close Tesla's chapter about becoming a private company.
As Musk informed the Tesla's board of directors that he was abandoning a plan to buy out the electric carmakers public shares, one board member was so excited that he let out a loud whoop, according to an account in The Wall Street Journal detailing the culmination of the saga.
The account does not specify which board member sounded the "Woohoo," but the nameless director's reaction underscores the feeling that many Tesla investors and observers have had as the unusual drama has unfolded during the past couple of weeks.
Musk blindsided Wall Street and his own board in early August when he tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share and that he already had the "funding secured."
The tweet, which sent Tesla's stock surging, triggered a 17-day scramble amid Musk and the company to line up investors to back up his tweet. Potential investors included Volkswagen, a competitor, and the Saudi government, a foreign entity with a vested interest in oil production.
After sending the company into crisis mode, and prompting an SEC investigation, Musk began to have second thoughts about privatization, the WSJ reports. He was worried that smaller investors wouldn't be able to stay on board during the transition, and he was concerned with giving decision-making power to other investors, especially when those investors were competitors like Volkswagen. In addition, the potential Saudi investment, which Musk said he was referring to in his 'funding secured' tweet, was never a done deal - the Saudis hadn't yet made a proposal.
Nonetheless, Tesla's board members said they were confident they could take Tesla private, WSJ reports, but the side effects that came with taking on new investors were discouraging to Musk, and he ultimately decided to keep the company public. He explained in an email to WSJ that privatization was "now or perhaps never," and "the value of Tesla will rise considerably in the coming months and years, possibly putting any take-private beyond the reach of any investors." This decision is what prompted the "woohoo" from a board member.
So, for now, Tesla is staying public.