Elon Musk stated in a tweet on Saturday that he received payments from Paypal between Series A financing in 2004 and Series C funding in 2007 to support Tesla. Musk added that a vehicle efficiency financing programme loan was the company’s first government investment only in 2010. Elon Musk was reacting to a tweet from American campaigner Ralph Nader, who said that Musk had taken the US government to the “cleaners for his factories and for Starlink” after using taxpayer money to build Tesla.
Musk is a ‘corporate welfare king masquerading as a capitalist businessman.’ he continued. “Musk (@elonmusk) started Tesla with a huge U.S. government welfare grant. He has taken taxpayers to the cleaners for his factories and for Starlink. He is a gigantic corporate welfare king masquerading as a capitalist businessman,” tweeted Ralph Nader.
Musk (@elonmusk) started Tesla with a huge U.S. government welfare grant. He has taken taxpayers to the cleaners for his factories and for Starlink. He is a gigantic corporate welfare king masquerading as a capitalist businessman. -R
— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) February 24, 2023
Elon Musk claimed that he donated his “final money”
Elon Musk stated on Twitter that he donated his “final money” to Tesla in late 2008 and that practically all of the funding for Tesla came from his PayPal earnings in 2007.
“Ralph Nader, you are lying – shame on you! I personally provided almost all Tesla funding, based on my proceeds from PayPal, from Series A in 2004 until Series C in 2007. In late 2008, I gave Tesla the last money I had. It was that or the company would have died. We closed that funding round at 6pm on Christmas Eve. If we had not closed that round, Tesla would have gone bankrupt 2 days after Christmas. I gave my last money thinking Tesla would probably still die, not thinking that it would be lucrative,” he tweeted.
Ralph Nader, you are lying – shame on you! I personally provided almost all Tesla funding, based on my proceeds from PayPal, from Series A in 2004 until Series C in 2007.
In late 2008, I gave Tesla the last money I had. It was that or the company would have died. We closed that…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2023
Tesla has become the best-selling luxury automobile manufacturer in the USA
Musk said that the car efficiency financing programme was the first significant government money that Tesla had received and that it was repaid early and with interest. “The first meaningful government funding Tesla received was in Q2 2010 from a loan under the vehicle efficiency lending program. Tesla paid back that loan early with interest. Taxpayers made a profit,” the tweet added. Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk last year for $44 billion.
According to sales in 2022, Tesla has become the best-selling luxury automobile manufacturer in the USA. The official reports are available, and the statistics are astonishing. The largest EV company in the world right now is Tesla. It has existed for over 20 years and has dominated and transformed the global EV industry. Indeed, it has served as an inspiration for a tonne of entrepreneurs in the area from all over the world. They create their own vehicles after seeing the problems with EVs.
