Investor's Corner
Venture capitalist defends Tesla and Elon Musk, issues bold takedown on TSLA skeptics
There are a lot of reasons why Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is fighting an uphill battle. The company is changing the status quo in both the auto industry and in the emerging autonomous driving market. Its CEO, Elon Musk, continues to be a polarizing figure for many. These, together with the mass numbers of short-sellers betting on the company’s failure, makes Tesla a dramatic stock in the market; and this became evident in the aftermath of the company’s first quarter financial results and earnings call.
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, an early investor in Facebook who is estimated to be worth around $1.2 billion today, believes that many are missing the whole point about Tesla. In a segment with CNBC Halftime Report host Scott Wapner, Palihapitiya explained why he fully supports Tesla, its vehicles like the Model 3, and its CEO, Elon Musk. A video of the venture capitalist’s segment has been cut from CNBC’s uploads of the interview, though copies of the footage have been saved by some members of the Tesla community since it aired (credit to @TradrFloridaFIL for providing the video and transcription of the interview).
Palihapitiya starts by arguing that Elon Musk has already completed endeavors that will benefit humanity for a long time to come, citing the reusable rockets of SpaceX, which have brought the costs of spaceflight down significantly. The venture capitalist notes that Tesla is now maturing under all the demand for its vehicles, particularly the Model 3, which has brought the company closer than ever to the mass market. While Palihapitiya admits that Tesla is not best-suited for investors who are particular with quarter-over-quarter precision, he argues that the company has nonetheless impressed on the long term.
The venture capitalist also expressed his criticism of Tesla skeptics, mainly hedge funds, who are proficient at under-hyping and “sniping” the electric car maker. This is something that has weighed down the company over the past quarters, and has caused CEO Elon Musk to respond personally to critics online. “What it’s controlled by are a bunch of vulture-like venture and hedge funds, mostly hedge funds who like to prey on that company. If you look at for example the Twitter traffic or if you look at the forum traffic around Tesla the amount of hyping or under-hyping the amount of sniping is enormous. All of that signals to me that it is a market that is out of the control of the founders and the executives and firmly in the hands of financial manipulators,” Palihapitiya said.
While Palihapitiya admits that Elon Musk has a problem with his overly-aggressive timeframes, the venture capitalist candidly noted that the world might be better off if Elon Musk were just allowed to “do his job.” “If you take a five-year step back and say what is he promised in 2014 to what is he doing in 2019 you’d be ecstatic. Similarly, if you take a step back and say from 2019 to 2024 let the man do his job, will we be better or worse off as a planet, as a species, as humanity, as consumers? Will we be better off?” he said.
A particular point of criticism for Elon Musk lies in his behavior online. Musk’s Twitter account could be considered as one of Tesla’s greatest assets or liabilities, in the way that its contents have triggered both positive and negative swings for TSLA stock. Tesla critics currently view Musk’s Twitter antics as a critical part of their bear thesis, particularly since his actions are allegedly not reflective of a CEO that is professional and in control. This was brought up by the CNBC host during the venture capitalist’s interview, and Palihapitiya was quick to issue a rebuttal. According to the billionaire, people that are caught up in concerns about Musk’s Twitter are missing the whole point, even considering the CEO’s now-infamous “funding secured” tweet.
“Okay, maybe he stepped out of bounds. My point is you’re getting caught up in the window dressing. I’m focusing on the main course. The main course is on the table. The choice for you as a buyer or a seller of that stock is, do you want to eat it? If you get caught up in all of the stuff around the edges, maybe he may mistweet from time to time. My point is, who cares? Your job as a smart investor is to separate the facts and the news from the fiction and the noise. And all of that stuff doesn’t matter. It does not change the fact that tens of thousands of consumers are buying that car faster than they can get their hands on it. It doesn’t change that the minute you sit inside that car, your definition of what is expected is altered forever and you wonder why every other car around you that you ever step in that you may buy doesn’t have the same things that that car offers. So at the end of the day, whether you like his style or not, his substance is irrefutable,” he said.
In response to the CNBC host’s question about the upcoming competition from veteran auto, the venture capitalist notes that at this point, it is evident that Tesla will be the “clear winner” in the electric car industry. This comment is not just blind support for Tesla, as even premium electric cars being produced by legacy auto today still fall short of the specs and capabilities of the company’s vehicles. Vehicles like the Audi e-tron, for example, feature more luxurious interior finishes than a Tesla Model 3, but when it comes to efficiency and software, the vehicles are years behind. Palihapitiya argues that even if Tesla reaches a point where it will need to be bailed out, larger companies like Apple or Google will likely acquire the electric car maker.
“You’re right because I remember all the Zune media players I bought after Apple released the iPod. I also remember the enormous number of amazing smartphones I bought when the iPhone was like… It’s not what people do. You know it tends to be the case that when you redefine expectations and you have a category leader, and you have an indelible brand and a mark that people recognize, the easiest decision. Let me be a little pejorative; the lazy decision is to pick the winner and go with it. And in this case there is a clear winner in electrification, it is done. That die has been cast. And so now the question is can he build the infrastructure to deliver the demand? And if given time and if given patience I believe he will and I vote with my money that he can do that.
“And everybody that bets against him can do that as well but at what stake really, because it’s not as if there’s no downside protection for the stock. The people who short this company are so short-sighted because the number of companies that would come out of the woodwork… You don’t think that Apple with 200 billion dollars of cash backstops this company and has a chance to enter a trillion dollar market overnight by buying that business if it gets imperiled in any way? Google which already tried to buy it wouldn’t try to buy it again? So what are we betting against? We’re betting against the cleaner earth because we don’t like that? We like to suck in the carbon monoxide and the fumes from all these cars? We’re betting against beautiful flat screens, beautiful ways in which to manage your experience inside the car because we don’t like that?” he said.
Ultimately, Palihapitiya argues that the bets against Tesla are usually bets against Elon Musk’s style. When the CNBC host brought up noted short-seller Jim Chanos and his stance against the electric car maker, the venture capitalist did not mince his words. “Jim Chanos makes money once a decade. And while the market rips up the guy just bleeds money, and he’s never on CNBC and every time something works he’s there for five minutes. Great for Jim Chanos, fantastic as a hedge in a portfolio where you have 1% in a short fund but the reality is being long equities makes sense. Being long innovation makes sense. Betting against entrepreneurs that are changing the world has never been a profitable endeavor. Why start now?” he said, adding that he will be happy to post his returns against Chanos’ fund any time when challenged once more by the CNBC host.
Watch Chamath Palihapitiya’s segment on CNBC’s Halftime Report in the video below.
Tesla has its answer to grow its automotive sales over the next few years, TD Cowen analyst Itay Michaeli says, but it just has to bring it to the U.S.
On Thursday, Michaeli reiterated his $490 price target and the ‘Buy’ rating he already held on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA). However, its automotive division has struggled to show sequential growth over the past few years, mostly due to its focus on AI and Full Self-Driving. Tesla already axed two of its lower-volume vehicles with the Model S and Model X earlier this year.
However, Tesla does not need to engineer an entire new vehicle to trigger an upward tick in sales; it just has to bring it from China to the U.S., Michaeli said.
He is talking about the Model Y L, a slightly larger version of the all-electric crossover that is already available in China. U.S. customers have been pleading with CEO Elon Musk to bring it to the country since its launch in Asia last year, but he’s not convinced of it because of the advent of self-driving and its importance in this particular market.
The problem is that Tesla owners have been requesting something larger that could fit a typical American family. The Model Y L is slightly larger than the standard Model Y, but some are concerned that it could still be too small to fit what most people might need.
Instead, they have asked for a full-size SUV from Tesla.
Tesla gives big hint that it will build Cyber SUV, smaller Cybertruck
Nevertheless, the Model Y L still presents a great opportunity for Tesla in the U.S., and Michaeli says that there is an additional sales opportunity of about 100,000 units, with demand potential falling somewhere between 60,000 and 135,000 units.
TD Cowen’s note to investors also analyzed that Tesla’s growth could come from a stock perspective as well, positively impacting the stock price, as it has been widely reliant on vehicle sales, even though Tesla has truly phased itself away from that being an important metric.
Tesla stands to gain greatly from the introduction of the Model Y L in the U.S., but only if Elon Musk sees it as a viable fit for the market. Families may need to see Tesla bring something larger to the U.S., or they might be forced to buy from another automaker that offers something that fits is needs for more interior space to haul around the kids.
Elon Musk
SpaceXAI just launched into your kitchen with their new app
SpaceXAI just powered its first consumer app and it predicts what you want to buy.
SpaceXAI just made its first move into consumer AI, and it involves your grocery cart. On June 3, 2026, Gopuff and SpaceXAI announced the launch of Go, a Grok-powered shopping assistant built directly into the Gopuff app that predicts what you need before you even start searching for it.
Gopuff is an instant delivery platform that operates more than 400 micro-fulfillment centers across the U.S., delivering everyday essentials, snacks, drinks, and household items in as little as 15 minutes. It is not a restaurant delivery app or a marketplace. It owns its inventory, controls its warehouses, and handles its own logistics, which means it has built one of the most detailed consumer behavior datasets in retail over its 13-year history.
Go combines SpaceXAI’s advanced reasoning, voice, and image generation models with Gopuff’s dataset of hundreds of millions of orders and real-time cultural signals from X to prepare a suggested cart the moment a customer opens the app. It learns each shopper’s habits and automatically builds a personalized cart based on time of day, location, order history, and real-time indicators. Returning customers can check out with a single tap.
Rather than searching for specific items, users can describe a situation like a game-day party or the desire for a healthy breakfast and Go will assemble a cart automatically. It can also predict when shoppers are running low on items like coffee or paper towels and have them packed and delivered in under 15 minutes. Grok voice integration lets users talk to the app in plain conversational language and check out completely hands-free.
Gopuff co-founder and co-CEO Yakir Gola said: “Today, we believe the greatest friction left in commerce is not delivery or instantaneous access to the essentials customers need. It’s the moment before: the thinking, the deciding, the remembering. We’re combining Gopuff’s demand intelligence with xAI’s frontier reasoning to create an everyday shopping experience that feels like a true extension of you.”
Why SpaceX just made a $60 billion bet on AI coding ahead of historic IPO
The timing carries context beyond the product launch. SpaceXAI was formed after SpaceX completed an all-stock merger with Elon Musk’s xAI earlier this year, folding one of the most advanced AI labs in the world into the same corporate structure as the company preparing what could be the largest IPO in history. SpaceXAI is dipping into consumer-focused AI just as it prepares for its public debut, and while Musk has openly discussed building an everything app, this launch uses Grok to power another company’s product rather than launching a standalone consumer platform. Every consumer-facing deployment of Grok ahead of the IPO roadshow adds tangible evidence that SpaceXAI is not just an infrastructure play but a direct competitor in the AI application layer where OpenAI and Google are already fighting for dominance.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s amended S-1 is sparking a major Tesla merger conversation
A single line in SpaceX’s amended S-1 just sent Tesla stock down 5% in one day.
A single line buried in SpaceX’s amended S-1 filing is doing more to move Tesla’s stock price than anything Tesla itself has announced in months. The clause, disclosed as SpaceX prepares for what could be the largest IPO in Wall Street history, states that the company “may issue a significant amount of equity in connection with future transactions.” While this may be seen as boilerplate language in S-1 filings, the historical ties between SpaceX and Tesla, and with Elon Musk reportedly discussing a possible merger with close colleagues, investors are interpreting it as something closer to a signal.
The concern among institutional investors like Gary Black, managing director of The Future Fund, pointed directly to the amended filing on X, saying it “strongly suggests more SPCX equity will be issued,” which could potentially be used to acquire Tesla. He estimated such a deal could be 28% dilutive to Tesla shareholders since SpaceX would likely command a significantly higher valuation multiple. Black added that institutional investors he knows hate the idea of a combination because they prefer pure plays over conglomerates, which he said “nearly always gravitate to the lowest common multiple.”
The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building
The bull case runs the math differently. Tesla influencer and retail shareholder advocate AleXandra Merz pushed back on what she called a widespread misunderstanding of how merger-of-equals deals actually work. Rather than simply splitting the difference between two market caps, a merger exchange ratio is negotiated based on relative fair market values, meaning the lower valued company typically sees its stock reprice upward toward the deal value.
Under her model, SpaceX enters at a $2.5 trillion valuation and Tesla at $1.6 trillion, producing a combined entity worth $4.1 trillion split evenly between both shareholder groups. That implies Tesla’s side of the deal would be valued at $2.05 trillion, a gain of roughly $450 billion from its current market cap. She cited Dow-DuPont and CBS-Viacom as historical examples of how markets reprice both companies toward the announced exchange ratio after a deal is unveiled.
What does a Merger of Equals mean to Elon’s compensation packages?
Well, it changes everything.
Enjoy https://t.co/uekCldyITw pic.twitter.com/kolq1C9qTu
— AleXandra Merz 🇺🇲 (@TeslaBoomerMama) June 1, 2026
The SpaceX S-1 amendments also revealed just how much financial infrastructure already binds the two companies together. As Teslarati has reported, SpaceX purchased $697 million in Tesla Megapacks, $131 million in Cybertrucks, and the two companies have shared supply chain resources, and semiconductor fabrication plans since well before any merger conversation became public. A retail poll by Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt is finding that 36% of respondents do not plan to buy SpaceX shares at IPO and 15.3% saying their decision depends on the valuation.
Do you plan on buying @SpaceX stock at its IPO?
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 1, 2026
Whether the merger happens or not, the amended filing is seemingly moving markets and sharpened a debate that is no longer theoretical. SpaceX is weeks away from trading publicly, and Tesla shareholders are now watching every word of every filing for clues about what Musk plans to do next.
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