Investor's Corner
Tesla bear Jim Chanos isn’t shorting $TSLA anymore, he’s moved to a Put position
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) bear Jim Chanos is no longer shorting the automaker’s stock. Instead, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company’s longtime skeptic has moved on to a “Put” position.
Chanos said in an interview with CNBC that he has abandoned the “Short” position he once held on Tesla stock, SeekingAlpha reported. Evidently, the losses came to be too much for the investor to handle, so he has moved on. Interestingly, Chanos commended Musk in December for a job well done, admitting defeat but not moving his belief that TSLA stock will eventually meet its demise.
Short and put positions are similar because they are fundamentally used in a bearish manner to predict the decline of a security or index. Short selling involves the sale of a security not owned by the seller but borrowed and then sold in the market to be brought back up at a later time. If the stock rises and doesn’t fall, it opens the potential for large-scale losses.
Put options give the buyer the right to sell an underlying asset at an agreed price in an option contract. The maximum loss is the premium paid within the option.
Still not a true believer in Tesla’s valuation or its label as the world’s most valuable automaker, Chanos recognized that EPS estimates for the automaker in January 2019 for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years were higher than what they are today, even though the stock was trading at only $50 per share split-adjusted.
That kind of tells you a little bit about what’s happened in the marketplace in that valuations have just gone parabolic for basically a company that’s still, in the eyes of analysts, earning at or below where they thought it would be earning two years ago. That’s kind of incredible,” he said.
But since January 2019, Tesla has grown significantly. The company only had one production facility in operation at the time, and Giga Berlin wouldn’t be announced until November of the same year. Tesla was only building three vehicles, and only one of them, the Model 3, was a mass-market car geared toward affordable price points that would open the doors for a wide-range EV adoption across the world. Tesla had already announced Giga Shanghai by this point, but the project was far from complete and wouldn’t start delivering vehicles until January 2020.
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January 2019 also saw the company’s Q4 2018 Earnings Call and the release of delivery and production figures for the electric automaker. In the final quarter of 2018, Tesla manufactured 86,555 cars, 61,394 of them were the Model 3. For the year, the company delivered 245,240 cars in total. It was Tesla’s third profitable quarter all-time at that point.
In comparison, Tesla more than doubled that output in 2020. It produced over 509,000 vehicles in 2020 alone, with 98% of them being delivered, leaving little room for inventory or “falling demand” arguments. Tesla managed to deliver 180,570 cars in Q4 2020 alone, well over 50% of the 2018 full-year delivery figures.
Additionally, Tesla short-sellers, bears, and skeptics alike rarely consider that the company is more than an automaker. With a line of sustainable energy products at competitive prices, Tesla has an energy sector that has cause for major disruption moving forward. Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says that Tesla will “double and triple again” after its energy business takes off, which could spell even worse news for Chanos and other short-sellers moving forward.
Disclaimer: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.
Elon Musk has firmly denied recent media reports suggesting that SpaceX has reduced its target valuation for an upcoming initial public offering.
The denial came directly from the SpaceX and Tesla frontman on his social media platform X, where he responded with a single word, “False,” to a post from ZeroHedge that cited Bloomberg sources.
This swift rebuttal underscores Musk’s ongoing effort to manage speculation surrounding one of the most anticipated market debuts in recent history.
False
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 29, 2026
According to the disputed reports, SpaceX had lowered its IPO valuation goal to at least $1.8 trillion from previous ambitions exceeding $2 trillion.
The claims emerged amid growing anticipation for the company’s confidential S-1 filing, which positions it for a potential public listing as early as June.
Some had pointed to strong revenue growth, particularly from the Starlink satellite internet service, which contributed heavily to the firm’s 2025 figures of $18.7 billion. Yet challenges persist in other areas, including substantial investments and losses tied to ambitious projects like Starship development and artificial intelligence initiatives, which plan to make life multiplanetary eventually.
Musk’s response highlights a pattern in which he actively counters what he views as inaccurate portrayals of his companies’ trajectories.
SpaceX, already valued privately at extraordinary levels, stands as a cornerstone of Musk’s empire alongside Tesla and xAI. The entrepreneur has long emphasized the transformative potential of reusable rockets and global broadband access, factors that fuel investor enthusiasm despite operational hurdles.
By rejecting the valuation downgrade narrative, Musk signals confidence in SpaceX’s fundamentals and its readiness for public markets on terms favorable to its long-term vision. People have been waiting a very long time to invest in SpaceX, and the valuation, as well as the introductory share price, is not going to need adjusting.
They’ll have plenty of suitors.
This episode reflects broader dynamics in the technology sector, where rumors often swirl around high-profile entities. Musk’s direct engagement with media narratives serves to maintain transparency and control the narrative around his ventures.
As SpaceX prepares for greater scrutiny in public markets, the founder’s denial reinforces optimism about its prospects. Supporters argue that the company’s innovative edge positions it for enduring success, far beyond short-term valuation debates. With the denial now public, attention turns to forthcoming regulatory filings that could provide clearer insights into SpaceX’s strategy and financial health.
The coming weeks promise to reveal more about how SpaceX will transition into a publicly traded powerhouse.
Elon Musk
The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building
Tesla and SpaceX may be closer to merging than Wall Street or either company is admitting.
Elon Musk has reportedly discussed merging Tesla and SpaceX with people close to him, according to CNBC, which cited sources familiar with the conversation. Tesla employees have long expected such a transaction and the topic is openly discussed internally, according to internal sources. With SpaceX is days away from kicking off its Wall Street roadshow for what could be the largest IPO in market history, this would be the first time the company will have public market currency to execute a stock-for-stock deal with Tesla.
The financial logic for a merger would make sense. A combined SpaceX and Tesla would create a conglomerate spanning rockets, satellites, electric vehicles, AI infrastructure, and energy storage valued at roughly $3.35 trillion to $3.6 trillion based on SpaceX’s IPO target range and Tesla’s current market capitalization. The two companies are already more intertwined than most people realize. SpaceX bought $697 million worth of Tesla Megapack systems for xAI data centers and $131 million worth of Cybertrucks. Tesla invested $2 billion in xAI, which subsequently merged with SpaceX. Past transactions also include Tesla selling solar equipment and parts to SpaceX, and SpaceX helping with Cybertruck materials.
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Musk himself signaled where this was heading in November 2025 when he posted on X, “My companies are, surprisingly in some ways, trending towards convergence.” Tesla and SpaceX announced a joint semiconductor fabrication facility in Austin called Terafab on the Gigafactory Texas campus, covering two advanced chip factories, with one serving Tesla’s AI needs for vehicles and Optimus robots, the other targeting space-based data centers under SpaceX’s infrastructure vision.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives places the probability of a merger at 80% to 90% with a target completion in the first half of 2027. The mechanics of a deal became possible the moment SpaceX filed its S-1. Legal experts said a merger likely would not spark antitrust issues but would raise concerns among shareholders in each company, with questions around which company would be the parent, how a stock swap would take place, and who determines the appropriate price. Musk holds about 20% of Tesla’s equity but controls 85.1% of SpaceX’s voting power through a super-voting share class, meaning he would largely be negotiating the terms with himself.
Not everyone is convinced the timing is imminent. Traders on Kalshi place only 33% odds that a merger will happen before May 2027. The more immediate concern for Tesla shareholders is whether the SpaceX IPO pulls capital and Musk’s attention away from Tesla before any merger consolidates the upside for both.
What is clear is that the structural groundwork is already being laid. The Terafab announcement, the xAI merger, the shared supply chain, the cross-company balance sheet transactions, and now the IPO all point in the same direction. Whether the merger follows in 2027 or later, the two companies are already operating more like divisions of a single entity than independent competitors.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just filed for the IPO everyone was waiting for
SpaceX filed its public S-1, revealing $18.7 billion in revenue and billions in losses.
SpaceX publicly filed its S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 20, 2026, making its financial details available to the public for the first time ahead of what could be the largest IPO in history.
An S-1 is the formal document a company must submit to the SEC before going public. It includes audited financials, risk factors, business descriptions, and how the company plans to use the money it raises. Companies are required to file one before selling shares to the public, and it must be published at least 15 days before the investor roadshow begins. SpaceX had already submitted a confidential draft to the SEC in April, which allowed regulators to review the filing privately before it went public.
The S-1 reveals that SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in consolidated revenue in 2025, driven largely by its Starlink satellite internet division, which posted $11.4 billion in revenue, growing nearly 50% year over year. Despite that growth, the company lost about $4.9 billion in 2025 and has burned through more than $37 billion since its founding.
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A significant portion of those losses trace back to xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which was recently merged into SpaceX. SpaceX directed roughly 60% of its capital spending in 2025 to its AI division, totaling around $20 billion, yet that division lost billions and grew revenue by only about 22%.
SpaceX plans to list its Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America leading the offering. The dual-class share structure means going public will not meaningfully reduce Musk’s control, as Class B shares he holds carry 10 votes per share compared to one vote for public Class A shares.
The company is targeting a raise of around $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO ever. The investor roadshow is reportedly planned for June 5.
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