Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tesla Goes Public, Prices Shares at $17

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors will start publicly trading stock on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, under the symbol TSLA. Tesla previously said it hoped to raise $178 million, but decided to upsize the IPO to $226 million and sell 13.3 million shares at $17 a piece.

After the IPO, Toyota will purchase an additional $50 million worth of stock, which – together with this IPO and previous investments, valued at over $750 million – brings the total amount of money invested in Tesla to over one billion.

Although Tesla is yet to make a profit, one can’t deny it’s one of the most exciting companies to go public in the last couple of years. Backed by large government loans, and fueled by a promise of a clean but also fast car, Tesla seems like a company of the future. On the other hand, Tesla’s inability to deliver on some of its promises (it had problems finding the right transmission () for the Roadster model, and in 2008 Tesla issued a safety recall for 345 of its Roadsters) makes buying its shares a risky investment.

Will you be buying Tesla shares? Do you think the IPO will be successful? Share your opinion in the comments.

Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

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