Electric Car Maker Tesla Files for IPO

(AP)  Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc. said Friday it plans to sell stock to the public.

The company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., did not disclose in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission specifically how much it plans to raise though it listed $100 million as a placeholder figure. The actual amount it raises could be higher.

Tesla also did not give a date for when it plans to launch the IPO, nor did it say how many shares it would sell or at what price.

A Tesla IPO has been widely anticipated. The company has garnered attention for its high-end Roadster, an all-electric sports car that retails for $109,000.

The two-door Roadster is the only model Tesla currently sells, but the company plans to start selling a four-door sedan, the Model S, in 2012. The Model S is slated to go for $49,900 when including a federal tax credit. That car is designed to travel as far as 300 miles on a three- to five-hour charge.

The company has not been profitable. Since its founding in 2003, it has lost $236.4 million, according to its filing. During the first nine months of 2009, it lost $31.5 million. The company said it has $106.5 million in cash as of Sept. 30.

Tesla said it has sold 937 Roadsters as of Dec. 31. The company has 10 stores in U.S. and Europe and disclosed plans to double that by end of the year. The company said it hopes to have 50 stores "within the next several years.

Tesla disclosed some of its biggest stakeholders in its filing. CEO Elon Musk, 38, a co-founder of PayPal and chairman of spaceship developer Space Exploration Corp., is the biggest shareholder by far with more than 81 million shares in the company.

Venture capital and other investment firms make up the bulk of Tesla's other large investors. They include Blackstar Investco LLC, Al Wahada Capital Investment LLC and affiliates of VantagePoint Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners.

To help it build the Model S, the Department of Energy agreed to extend Tesla a $465 million loan last June. That money came from a pool Congress set aside in 2007 to help automakers develop fuel-efficient technology. Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and other carmakers have also received loans from the fund.

Tesla's loan could give the government a stake in the automaker when it goes public. According to the filing, the Energy Department received warrants to purchase more than 9 million shares of Tesla when the loan closed on Jan. 20.

David Minlow, president of the IPO research firm IPOfinancial.com, called Tesla's intent to go public a "warning shot across the bow" of the automotive industry. But he cautioned that the company is not yet making a profit and will have to show investors it can produce cars on a large scale.

"I don't believe that just the sex appeal of the product and the name that goes with it is going to automatically convert into blind optimism on the part of investors," Minlow said.

Several high profile investment banks are underwriting the offering, including Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities.

[steve8313]

I still don't know why the EV1 (if you haven't heard of this, Google it. Very interesting.) isn't back on the market. I really do think there is a conspiracy between the government, oil interests, and the car companies.

[sjc_1]

George W. Bush refused to allow the EPA to support CARB and the ZEV mandate in 2001. There was no need for GM to continue, so they sold the batteries to Texaco/Chevron and crushed the EV1s. If you want to know Who Killed the Electric Car, it was Dubya.

[Sky017]

I hope they do NOT do an IPO and become public. Some of the companies that have done this eventually get bought up by some shadow company of an oil company and then you hear that the product couldn't make it in the market. Meanwhile the oil company has a lock on the patents, and the technology goes nowhere.

An investigative report should be done on what happened to the Zinc-Air Electric Bus:
youtube.com/watch?v=yLJwtuCQi0c

[sjc_1]

They need large format batteries. 8000 cells slightly larger than a AA is not the way to go.

[HGOODGUY]

Tesla is a very exiting innovative company.

They are not looking to be the new General Motors but rather to take advantage and grow their product. Not by taking on huge expenses and overhead but rather to take advantage of the fact that they are a small, innovative and flexible company.

They don't have massive overhead like their large competitors and, as a result, they can "turn on a dime".

These types of companies are the ones that bear watching and ivesting in because when they grow their stock will soar!!

Companies that have this profile are the ones that are positioned for growth and not the behemoth, inflexable companies that are stuck because of their size and can't get out of their own way.

[tmittelstaed]

Here is what Tesla is doing - they are filing for an IPO approval when the stock market is down which is very smart - because this way when they get approval they can plan on the IPO right at the beginning of a market rise - and then they will not have to worry about shareholder lawsuits or any of that.

But do not think that Tesla is slated for being the next GM it is not. They are going to do it the Mercedes way - sell a rich man's plaything, keep the volume low, the margin high, and when they prove a sustainable market exists they will get acquired by a car company like Tata Motors or some such who needs their patent portfolio.

It's unlikely any of the common stock owners who buy in the upcoming IPO will ever see any return. The US government will get it's money back first along with the investment firms. If the future sale of the company occurs at the right time then the IPO stock holders will get better stock and maybe some money. But if it doesen't happen then we will have another DeLorean.

As far as it being a green car that doesen't need to go from zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds, that isn't true. The public perception of electric cars is that they are slow and do not have enough range. That is why the logical thing is to make an electric sportscar first. They need to change public perception because if an electric car can beat most cars off the line and drive with equal or better range, then that will destroy the perception that electric cars are slow. It is only after that perception is slow that you can sell electric econobox cars.

[g55rumpy]

these jobs need heavy money from the government to last. money we don`t have

[doctor_know]

Wrong!

[thesevenveils]

I'm enthusiastic about this company's progress; great stuff.
How ever I am rubbed a bit raw about the company name. Tesla was and is a man ahead of his time. His contributions towards the understanding of electromagnetism is unparalleled.

It is disturbing to think none of Tesla's family can bring this company to bear legally to change its name. It is a gag me with a spoon fact it is capitalizing upon a persona's greatness this company will never achieve.
Change the company name and you will attract more interest.