Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) was in the news again this morning veering across all four lanes of the information super-highway.
The shares were up 1.8% at US$358.62 in pre-market trading on reports that the board of the electrical vehicles producer is going to meet with advisers next week to talk over the idea of taking the company private.
Seeing as the idea was originated by the company’s founder, Elon Musk, the other directors are going to ask Musk to stay clear of the talks and to consult his own set of advisers on the proposal, according to CNBC.
Musk tweeted the idea about taking Tesla private at US$420 a share on Tuesday, saying that funding had been secured.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
The tweet set the cat among the pigeons although some sources suggest the majority of shareholders are supportive of the idea.
It appears that there's overwhelming support from @ElectrekCo readers for @elonmusk's plan to take @Tesla private: https://t.co/PBkxqGqeIj pic.twitter.com/6xdC42zGWj
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) August 8, 2018
On the other hand, maybe they are just pleased to see all those who had shorted Tesla stock take a bath; the shares had risen from US$342 at the close of trading on Monday to US$352.45 at last night’s close.
Shares in Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ:OSTK) were a hot ticket in after-hours trading after the retailer revealed Hong Kong-based private equity firm GSR Capital would be investing US$375mln in Overstock and in tZero, its 80%-owned blockchain subsidiary.
GSR will end up with an 18% stake in tZero, valuing the cryptocurrency arm at US$1.5bn, which is more than the market capitalization of Overstock itself (currently about US$1.3bn).
The news overshadowed the e-commerce outfit’s second-quarter results, which showed revenues increased 12% to US$483.1mln from US$432.0mln the year before while the net loss widened to US$64.9mln from US$7.5mln.
Traders drop-kicked Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX) into the bleachers after the tech company’s chief operating officer, Dennis Woodside, announced his intention to log off in September.
The cloud-based information storage company said Woodside would not be replaced directly; two vice presidents on the staff would instead be reporting directly to the chief executive officer, Drew Houston, to fill the gap.
Woodside’s impending departure prompted the shares to slide 5.3% to US$32.60 despite the company reporting a 27% increase in second-quarter revenue to US$339.2mln, which was ahead of the US$331mln the market had been expecting.
Adjusted earnings per share of 11 cents were four cents higher than the consensus forecast.
#Dropbox has a good financial quarter https://t.co/JjWJcDuVKI
— DwaynePhillips (@DwaynePhillips) August 10, 2018