On April 21 (local time), billionaire Elon Musk called out Wikipedia’s bias and its editors’ complicated relationship with facts. While replying to a Twitter user about how he acquired Tesla and built the empire, Musk said, “They say history is written by the victors, but not on Wikipedia if the losing party is still alive & has lots of time on their hands!”
Musk was referring to the unavailability of the story behind the acquisition of Tesla, which was a shell company and turning it into a multi-billion dollar venture.
They say history is written by the victors, but not on Wikipedia if the losing party is still alive & has lots of time on their hands!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
His statement came as a reply to a discussion where Vaibhav Sisinty of Growth School had said Musk was not the founder of Tesla, but he acquired it. A Twitter user Willy Woo countered how Musk changed the business model of a dying company and fired the found before it sunk.
Semantics.
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) April 21, 2022
He invested in a glorified kitset car manufacturer with unworkable tech. He fired the founder before the company died.
Then he changed the business model, raised significant money, forged new technology and created a wholly new industry. That is what founders do.
Notably, Sisinty’s tweet was in a positive sense as he said in a follow-up tweet that he thinks Musk can unlock the potential of Twitter.
I believe that @elon can actually “tap into twitter’s true potential” if he acquires it.
— Vaibhav Sisinty (@VaibhavSisinty) April 21, 2022
Hence the tweet!
For a company to do well, it needs a strong leader, usually the founder in most companies.
Jack is out.
Elon can be the one.
In a series of tweets, Musk said the statements made were incorrect. He said, “Not even close to that. It was a shell corp with no employees, no IP, no designs, no prototype, literally nothing but a biz plan to commercialize AC Propulsion’s Tzero car, which was introduced to me by JB Straubel, not Eberhard.”
If filing a shell corp constitutes “founding a company”, then I’d be the only founder of PayPal, since I filed the original incorporation docs for https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy (later renamed PayPal), but that’s not what founding means.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
He further added that the name ‘Tesla Motors’ was not owned by the company but by someone else. Notably, in 2021 Musk had revealed that the name was owned by someone from Sacramento, California.
Musk wanted the name badly, but the guy who owned the name was not interested in selling it. In an interview, he said, “I sent the nicest guy who was difficult to anger to his doorsteps and told him not to leave till he agrees to sell the name.” They paid $75,000 for the name.
.@elonmusk didn’t come up with the name Tesla Motors. He sent the nicest guy in the company to go sit in front of the house of guy’s house who owned the name to buy it. Eventually the guy sold it to @elonmusk for 75,000. pic.twitter.com/T7xtW6VXKc
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) November 5, 2021
He further pointed out that the company was earlier just a shell company. He said, “If filing a shell corp constitutes “founding a company”, then I’d be the only founder of PayPal since I filed the original incorporation docs for http://X.com (later renamed PayPal), but that’s not what founding means.”
When Eberhard was fired unanimously by the board in July 2007 (for damn good reasons), no one left with him. That says it all.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
Musk added Martin Eberhard was fired by the board unanimously in July 2007 for damning reasons. He said the fact matters a lot that no one left with him. He blamed Eberhard for “relentlessly pushing a false narrative about Tesla for 15 years.” Musk said, “he [Eberhard] is a compelling liar. Fooled me for almost three years.”
But if he was actually capable of creating a company like Tesla, he would have done so after he was fired for lying outrageously about cost & progress of Roadster in mid 2007.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
We would’ve lost at least a few talented people if he was the real deal, but we lost no one.
Questioning Eberhard’s leadership skills, he said, “But if he was actually capable of creating a company like Tesla, he would have done so after he was fired for lying outrageously about cost & progress of Roadster in mid-2007. We would’ve lost at least a few talented people if he was the real deal, but we lost no one.”
Musk has raised questions on Wikipedia before
This is not the first time Musk has raised questions about the content available on Wikipedia. In 2021 he had said, “My wiki is such a dumpster fire. That’s how you know it isn’t curated.”
My wiki is such a dumpster fire 🤣🤣. That’s how you know it isn’t curated.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2021
Elon Musk and Twitter
Recently, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter and make it private. He had said the company had a lot of potentials, and he could unlock it. The Twitter Board, however, rejected the offer and activated Poison Pill to stop him from acquiring controlling shares in the company. The tussle between Musk and Twitter continues as the fact is even though Twitter activated Poison Pill, it cannot stop him from acquiring the required shares to take over the company.
