Risk or Reward: Making a long term bet on Elon Musk

There are many of us who've invested a big chunk of change on Tesla [NASDAQ: TSLA] hoping the stock will (eventually) continue its meteoric rise. Much of this investment thesis revolves around one man: Elon Musk. Is Elon a good bet? David Kuo recently weighed in via Channel News Asia with his own thoughts on the matter. 

Above: Tesla's Elon Musk (Flickr: Steve Jurvetson) 

Kuo observes, "Musk is arguably one of the most adventurous and talked-about entrepreneurs of our time. He joins a band of notable modern-day entrepreneurs that include Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Steve Jobs, who founded Apple." True. But he's very, very different than those classic tech icons.

Let's face it: if he can juggle SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, and Neuralink all at once, Elon Musk must be doing something right. Kuo says, "In contrast to Gates and Jobs, Musk hasn’t restricted himself to a solitary project, but has many schemes on the go, simultaneously. Like them, he has attempted to innovate and disrupt [via] industries from electric vehicles to space travel and solar power."

Nevertheless, "some might criticize Musk for biting off more than he can chew... But critics must understand that investing in Musk and his businesses is not about making a quick buck nor as much about building fortunes as much as it is about solving problems. He has always invested in the future while his ventures were eventually [evolving to become] profitable." 

"Due to this approach, even if Musk’s fortunes, or the share prices of his companies, go up or down, people still tend to back him up as he is planning the future world and puts his own fortunes on the line. That gives the assurance that he is serious about his ideas," says Kuo.

Okay, but is Elon Musk really a man to bet on? It depends. Kuo confesses that "[Elon] is an entrepreneur of a different kind – a visionary and a problem-solver. If you are looking for quick profits, he may not be your man. But for the high value-added business models he represents, Musk is worth backing and believing in."

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Source: Channel News Asia