Investor's Corner
Elon Musk clarifies his demeanor in NYT interview: ‘There were no tears’
Elon Musk appears to be hitting his stride in his social media use once more. Since announcing that Tesla would remain publicly traded, Musk has been his charming self on the social media platform, even clarifying his demeanor during his fateful interview with the New York Times earlier this month.
The past month has been quite difficult and stressful for Elon Musk, and just like Tesla’s struggles with the Model 3 ramp, much of his stress were pretty much self-inflicted. Musk found himself in the middle of controversy after he announced on Twitter that he was considering taking the company private at $420 per share, and that he had “funding secured.” In the weeks that followed, Tesla was attacked by a fresh wave of criticism from dedicated short-sellers and at some point, even the mainstream media. SEC investigations were reportedly started, and lawsuits were reportedly filed against Musk as well.
Tesla is now dealing with the aftermath of the privatization attempt and its subsequent cancelation, but during the height of the go-private drama, Musk opted to give an interview to the New York Times. The interview, which reportedly lasted an hour, featured Musk discussing the events that led up to his tweet about Tesla’s privatization attempt, as well as his struggles in the weeks that followed after. The NYT piece was extensive, though it included more references to unnamed sources than it did of Musk’s actual statements. What’s more, the piece painted a picture of a man who was on the verge of a breakdown, with the article stating that during the course of the interview, “Mr. Musk alternated between laughter and tears” and that the CEO “choked up multiple times” while talking about the difficulties he was facing.
Musk’s depiction in the NYT interview affected Tesla’s stock. In the days that followed, the company’s shares tanked more than 12% as investors started having second thoughts about Musk’s ability to lead the company. New York Times reporter David Gelles, one of the publication’s staff who penned the interview, when posted a tweet stating that “Tesla $TSLA stock now down close to 4 percent in premarket trading. Wonder why?” — seemingly as a direct reference to the interview’s effect on Tesla stock.
Musk recently issued a clarification about his composure during the NYT interview. In a statement on Twitter, Musk noted that his voice cracked once during the conversation, though he maintained that he did not shed any tears.
For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018
Elon Musk’s recent clarification does stand in line with his demeanor and composure during an interview filmed in roughly the same time period as the New York Times article. In the same week as his interview with the publication, Musk also had an interview with noted YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee. Musk seemed incredibly tired in his conversations with the YouTuber, but he did not look like he was, in any way, close to having a breakdown. If any, Musk’s interactions with Brownlee showed classic Elon Musk — overworked, inherently nerdy, and even a bit charming. Overall, the contrast between the Elon Musk in the MKBHD video and the Musk depicted in the NYT article was pretty much night and day.
If there is one thing that seems to be accurate in the New York Times piece, it is that Elon Musk appears to have pledged to keep his behavior in check on Twitter. This was reiterated by the Wall Street Journal as well, in a recent report about how Musk walked away from $30 billion of funding for Tesla’s privatization. Both articles noted that Musk pledged to Tesla’s Board of Directors that he would exercise more restraint in social media. So far, Musk appears to be doing just that.
Since announcing the end of Tesla’s privatization attempt, Musk has maintained a witty, polite tone on Twitter, at one point even responding to child actor and Fresh Off the Boat star Ian Chen, who asked if Musk could sign his Model 3.
Sure 🙂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018
Watch Elon Musk’s interview with YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee in the video below.
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.
However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.
Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.
Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.
Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.
He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.
Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.
Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.
That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.
🚨 These are the first-ever FSD safety statistics out of the Netherlands, showing it was over 3.5x safer than human driving on Dutch roads.
The most recent numbers out of Tesla for North America show:
-Over 5.5 million miles between accidents for Teslas using FSD
-660k miles… https://t.co/XKlRzgSGEh pic.twitter.com/HX6kzh0ZKc— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 9, 2026
Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.
“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.
Investor's Corner
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s Model Y just became South Korea’s best-selling car, beating every domestic model in May.
Tesla did something last month that no foreign car has ever done in South Korea by outselling every vehicle in the country, domestic or imported, finishing the month with Model Y as the single best-selling car across the entire Korean market. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association released on June 4, the Model Y recorded 8,762 units sold in May, pushing the Kia Sorento into second place at 7,836 units and the Hyundai Grandeur into third at 5,183 units. It is the first time an imported vehicle has outsold every domestic model on a single-month basis.
Tesla imported 10,866 cars into South Korea in May, making it the top import brand for the fourth consecutive month. BMW followed at 6,555 units, less than two-thirds of Tesla’s total, while BYD registered just 1,032 units. The combined domestic sales of GM Korea, Renault Korea, and KG Mobility last month totaled just 7,019 units, meaning a single Tesla model outsold three Korean automakers combined.
Tesla FSD earns high praise in South Korea’s real-world autonomous driving test
South Korea has historically been one of the hardest markets for foreign automakers to crack. Hyundai and Kia together control close to 70% of the overall market and carry deep consumer loyalty built over decades. Tesla’s path into this market was an uphill battle due to high import duties, limited service infrastructure, and early skepticism about charging networks. In 2024, the Model Y was the best-selling imported car in South Korea with 18,717 units for the full year. By 2025, after the Juniper refresh, it cleared 50,000 units and took the top spot among all EVs.
Year to date, Tesla has a 250.8% increase in the country over the same period last year, and now holds a 30.8% share of the entire imported car segment for 2026. EVs as a category represented 48.6% of all imported passenger car registrations in May. As Teslarati has reported, the Juniper refresh brought meaningful improvements to range, interior quality, and ride refinement that addressed the most common criticisms of earlier Model Y versions. Those upgrades appear to be resonating in markets like South Korea where buyers compare Tesla directly against high end domestic competitors.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) stands to reap one of the most extraordinary returns in pension fund history thanks to a bold 2019 investment in SpaceX.
According to a recent report from The Globe and Mail, the Toronto-based fund invested roughly $300 million CAD (~$220 million USD at the time) in Elon Musk’s space company as its inaugural deal through the Teachers’ Innovation Platform.
At SpaceX’s anticipated $1.75 trillion IPO valuation, set for a mid-June debut on Nasdaq under ticker $SPCX, that stake could now be worth up to $11.6 billion USD. This would represent a roughly 50x return and easily become OTPP’s most successful single investment ever.
The fund manages $279 billion in assets for approximately 346,000 working and retired teachers in Ontario, potentially delivering an average boost of around $33,500 per member if fully realized.
SpaceX has filed its S-1 and plans to price shares at $135 each, aiming to raise a record $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in history, surpassing Saudi Aramco. The company reported $18.67 billion in revenue for 2025, driven primarily by Starlink satellite internet growth and NASA contracts, though it continues to post significant losses tied to ambitious R&D in Starship and AI initiatives.
Important pieces moving forward include:
- Starlink Expansion: The satellite broadband service is scaling rapidly, targeting global connectivity, especially in underserved rural and remote areas. This segment offers massive recurring revenue potential as numbers climb.
- Starship and Reusability Leadership: SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship aims to slash launch costs dramatically, enabling frequent missions, Mars ambitions, and lucrative government/defense contracts. Success here could unlock exponential growth.
- AI and Diversification: Recent moves, including ties to xAI, position SpaceX in high-growth AI infrastructure, broadening beyond traditional aerospace.
- Validation Scrutiny: While the $1.75 trillion target excites investors, analysts like Morningstar value the company closer to $780 billion, citing high multiples (around 90x trailing revenue) and execution risks. A 180-day lockup period will prevent early investors like OTPP from selling immediately post-IPO.
The irony has not been lost on observers. Ontario’s government previously canceled a Starlink rural internet contract amid political tensions involving Musk, yet the pension fund’s savvy investment, made when SpaceX was valued around $33-36 billion, and Starlink was nascent, delivers outsized gains independent of politics.
For OTPP, this windfall strengthens its already solid 111 percent funding ratio and underscores the value of patient, innovation-focused capital allocation.
For SpaceX, the IPO marks a new chapter: greater transparency, access to public markets for talent retention and growth capital, and heightened pressure to deliver on its multi-planetary vision.
All eyes are fixed on whether SpaceX can justify its lofty valuation through sustained execution. For Ontario teachers, the returns are already stellar, but SpaceX, like other Musk companies in the past, has plenty of things to prove. Perhaps the most ideal person for the job is at the helm, hoping to bring the company to a massive valuation.
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