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Talulah Riley: The Yoko Ono Of The Electric Car?
Alex Moore :: Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 7:30 pm
Elon Musk, scion of Silicon Valley and the best great hope for the future of the electric car, is broke. Musk started and sold various internet companies, including Zip2 for $300 million and PayPal for $1.5 billion. Apparently he netted about $200 million personally in the PayPal deal. His new company Tesla motors, the much-lauded electric sportscar that gets almost 300 miles per charge and accelerates faster than a Ferrari, has received $465 million in low-interest loans from the Department of Energy.
Now that he’s divorcing his wife, having run off with girlfriend Talulah Riley, and has invested the last of his cash in Tesla, he’s broke. “About four months ago, I ran out of cash,” he said in a divorce proceeding, according to the New York Times. “It’s pretty aggravating,” he continued, in what might be the understatement of the year.
Musk’s wife is suing for the house, alimony, child support, and $6 million in cash. Meanwhile, Musk is reportedly living on loans from friends to to the tune of $200,000 per month.
Little reported in the ordeal is how this affects the fate of Tesla motors, whose finances have been stressed in recent years, requiring large capital investments from Musk personally. After spending his last $35 million on the company, Musk was forced to opt out of the company’s last round of investment fundraising.
Will Justine Musk and the divorce proceedings be the straw that broke Tesla’s back, and with it the future of the electric car?
It’s speculated that if Tesla is able to proceed with an IPO, Musk will be able to raise $21 million while still maintaining 65 percent of the company. They’d better get that IPO finished quick, before the debts to Musks friends soak up the entire take.
