Elon Musk seems to be a man of his word as he has just produced a pair of “short short” shorts to commemorate his latest success and to “taunt” investors who did not bet on Tesla. This product was released on Sunday along with a range of branded clothing being discounted on Tesla’s online store.
A limited edition Tesla-branded pair of shorts priced at “only $69.420” according to Elon Musk’s advertisement on Twitter. This seems to reference the price of $420 per share that Musk considered when taking the company private in 2018. The U.S. stock exchange subsequently sued, causing significant damage to Musk and Tesla.
“Celebrate summer with Tesla’s short shorts. Run like the wind or entertain like Liberace with our satin and gold-red trim design. Relax by the pool or in your living room year-round with our limited edition Tesla short shorts, featuring our signature Tesla logo on the front and the words S3 S3YY on the back. S3XY is named after Tesla vehicles, starting with Model S, ‘S, for the sedan, and Model X, ‘X, for the Falcon Wing doors, and Model 3 and Y.”
Right after Musk’s initial tweet introducing the new shorts product appeared, Tesla’s online shopping site temporarily could not process orders for this product.
Musk seems to want to “tease” those short sellers of Tesla stock with the name of the shorts “short short.”
Just this year, Tesla’s stock has risen 189%, making it the largest car manufacturer in the world, surpassing even Toyota. Tesla also surpassed the market capitalization of Coca-Cola, Disney, Costco, and Exxon Mobil.
The achievement of becoming the most valuable car manufacturer in the world comes at the perfect time, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Tesla’s IPO. At the time of the IPO 10 years ago, their stock price was $17 per share, higher than the pre-IPO expectation of only $14 – $16 per share.
Since the IPO, Tesla has never achieved a full year of profit. Until now, the company has only reported 7 profitable quarters, the first being Q1 of 2013. Currently, they have had 3 consecutive profitable quarters.
The surge in Tesla’s stock has also helped Elon Musk achieve the previously set KPIs and receive a massive bonus of up to $750 million.