Imagine that you are a consultant hired by a group of investors who have asked you to provide an assessment of Elon Musk’s businesses. Thoroughly read and analyze the case and write a report that addresses the following questions:
What are the key environmental challenges Elon Musk saw as opportunities? How did he address those challenges in different businesses?
Why do you think that Tesla, with a shorter history, significantly smaller sales and virtually no history of profits was valued higher than the other American car makers? Should there be different performance metrics for startups, such as Tesla?
How are the different businesses of Elon Musk related or unrelated to each other? Would it make sense for Elon Musk to put different businesses into one corporate umbrella or would he be better off running them separately?
If Elon Musk had to divest one of the various businesses, which would you recommend him? Why? How would this divestiture help him increase performance and investors’ confidence?