• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I mean, “stealing” is a strong word. Elon bought them out, and they’re both enjoying a net worth in the hundreds of million.

    What’s more disturbing about Elon’s tenure as head of the company is how social media manipulation, insider trading, and blatant SEC violations can pump a company’s valuation into the stratosphere.

    Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard both continued to contribute advances in engineering that far exceeded the Tesla project. But they’ll never have the kind of easy credit Elon secured through politics and media manipulation. So don’t expect to see them included among the ranks of “billionaire” any time soon.

    • DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      “Bought them out” is a weak word too though. He placed loyal people on the board and had them vote to give him control of the company.

      And now he has been having them vote to give him absurd unseen before “salaries”

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        He placed loyal people on the board and had them vote to give him control of the company.

        He could place loyalists on the board because he bought a controlling interest in the company.

        And now he has been having them vote to give him absurd unseen before “salaries”

        The latest compensation package has virtually unattainable sales targets. And the compensation is almost entirely in equity that assumes a monumental increase in stock valuation.

        If he can manage it, I’d be tempted to say he earned it, except I know he’ll only “hit” the target by lying and market manipulation that will collapse as soon as he hits his mark.

        • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          Like having space x buy thousands of cyber cucks?

          Or donating those shitty dangerous trucks to the Vegas police?

          Or when his Canadian dealerships sold themselves hundreds of cars on the last week of government subsidies?

          He’s gonna cheat to get his trillion, brag about having the biggest number, and try and fuck the country even more to keep him powerful. These robber barons need to be stopped and imprisoned bodies they can harm the rest of us any more.

    • Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip
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      5 months ago

      With any luck Elon with be in jail in a few years when Democrats try to prove we shouldn’t abandon this socioeconomic system entirely.

      • Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        That will never, ever, ever happen. Dems love an oligarch just as much, if not more, than republicans. China is the only country that prosecutes wealthy criminals.

        • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 months ago

          China is the only country that prosecutes wealthy criminals.

          Unfortunately they also lockup anyone they just kind of don’t like for any arbitrary reason.

          • Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works
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            5 months ago

            I was pointing out a difference in the way America does things. If I started listing things both have in common, the list would literally never end. Besides, the similarity is surface-level. China’s economy isn’t propped up by for-profit prisons

            • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              5 months ago

              Oh I agree, the US has taken a giant step toward the exact same fascist approach to government in the last few years

        • Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          Well, then I hope you guys are ready for a revolution unless you’re fine with a Blade Runner esc hellscape.

          • Azal@pawb.social
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            5 months ago

            Don’t worry, we won’t get a Blade Runner-esc hellscape.

            Because Blade Runner for a movie had to give us a fascinating world that was interesting that even as a hellscape there was a “Man, it’d be cool to be there.”

            No, our hellscape is going to be more like how fast food restaurants all look the same now, the corporate architecture version of taupe agreed to by committee.