In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Jim Chanos, a well-known short-seller, expressed skepticism about Tesla’s valuation and technological prowess. “We’re short the stock and we just think it’s ridiculously overvalued,” said Chanos.
Chanos criticized Tesla for its constantly changing narrative. “The Tesla story keeps changing right every few months. The Tesla faith will trot out a new ‘it’s batteries, it’s Robo taxis, now it’s AI,'” he said. He also expressed skepticism about Tesla’s technological leadership, particularly in the realm of full self-driving technology. “Tesla sort of admitted just recently in its full self-driving effort that it had been pursuing the wrong avenue for seven years,” Chanos noted.
The short-seller questioned the lack of regulatory scrutiny Tesla has received despite selling full self-driving as a product since 2016, which he claims “doesn’t exist.” “This is a company that has gotten a wide berth from regulators,” he added.
The interview also touched upon the broader AI market, with Chanos suggesting that Nvidia could be the current “it girl” of the AI bull market. “I suspect that it’s probably Nvidia,” he said, referring to the company’s strong earnings in May and August.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the interview, replying to a video of the internet shared by Sawyer Merritt, with a laughing emoji.
😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 15, 2023
Chanos says “Tesla is just a car company nothing more”…go figure. Tesla is just getting started and it’s clear Musk knows Chanos and others shorting the company–including Bill Gates–are set to lose a lot of money.
