Following his assertion that Tesla was going private, Elon Musk has issued a statement confirming that the automotive company will remain a publicly traded company after all.
In the full statement, issued on the electric car company’s website, he revealed that he and the company’s executive board ultimately decided that reverting to a privately owned company wasn’t the best decision.
“Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company,” Musk wrote in the statement.
“As part of the process, it was important to understand whether our current investors believed this would be a good strategic move and whether they would want to participate in a private Tesla.”
In a separate statement issued by six of Tesla’s directors, the board relayed the confidence they still have in Musk’s leadership despite the recent series of public missteps and controversy.
“Our investors are extremely important to me,” Elon added in the statement. “Almost all have stuck with us from the time we went public in 2010 when we had no cars in production and only a vision of what we wanted to be.
They believe strongly in our mission to advance sustainable energy and care deeply about our success […] Given the feedback I’ve received, it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s existing shareholders believe we are better off as a public company.”
