You never get bored with Elon Musk, people in business circles tend to say.
The whimsical and charismatic CEO of Tesla (TSLA) has completely rewritten all the practice manuals in business.
He has shaken up customs, buried traditions.
Musk is unique and intends to remain so.
He imposed his rules and sometimes even the regulators are obliged to follow. He is accustomed to thunderbolt declarations, which enchant his millions of fans and followers on Twitter.
Musk also cares a lot about his image. He wants to have control of the Musk brand. One of the central points of this image is that the billionaire wants to press the idea that he is one of the greatest innovators of our time, if not the greatest.
Apple Who?
It is in view of this context that we must understand his animosity towards Apple (AAPL), the Cupertino, California-based tech giant. Musk has always wanted to compete with Apple for the title of the most revolutionary brand of modern times.
"Oh my God, I've heard about Apple products. Now is like there's nothing to look forward to. Right!" Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's chief designer, said last February. "I feel like it's just a continuation. It's just kind of a slight refinement on the same thing," he said. "Inspirationally, it's been hard to get, you know, super motivated by what they're doing."
Musk and his lieutenants never stopped repeating that, apart from the iPhone, Apple hadn't invented anything for many years. And as if that weren't enough, he even made Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco Tesla's main rival in the race for the world's most valuable company, despite the fact that the iPhone and iPad maker is currently holding that crown.
"Tesla has the potential to be the most valuable company ever," the billionaire said on May 25 on Twitter. "When Tesla’s market cap, making sustainable energy products, exceeds that of Aramco, producing fossil fuels, you know the future will be good for Earth."
Tesla Valued at $4.5 Trillion?
The tech tycoon has just taken a new step in this rivalry with Apple. He now claims that Tesla has the potential to become the most valuable company in the world with a market value exceeding that of Apple and Saudi Aramco combined.
This means that Tesla, which is currently valued at nearly $700 billion, will take a huge leap forward to exceed at least $4.5 trillion.
"Several years ago, I said I thought it was possible for Tesla be worth more than Apple which was then the highest cap [italization's] company I think on the market at the time," the billionaire told analysts during Tesla's third quarter earnings' call on October 19. "I said it required incredible executions [and] at least some luck. And we didn't even intend to achieve that."
But he continued: "Now I have the opinion that we can far exceed Apple's current market cap. In fact, I see a potential path which has us [Tesla] to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined."
"That doesn't mean it will happen or that will be easy. In fact, I think it will be very difficult; it will require a lot of work. Some very creative new products, madness expansion."
"For the first time, I see a way for Tesla to be, let's say, roughly twice the value of Saudi Aramco," Musk added. "This is the first time I'm seeing that potential."
Challenges Ahead
He explained that his prediction was based, in particular, on the portfolio of current products and on the products that are in the pipeline.
Tesla currently produces the Model S and Model 3 sedans, the Model X and Model Y SUV/crossovers and solar panels. The company also develops its own batteries.
In the next two years a semi truck will be added, whose deliveries begin on December 1, 2022, the highly anticipated Cybertruck in mid-2023 and the launch of a fleet of robotaxis in 2024.
The company also plans to market Optimus, a humanoid robot, starting in 2023, while Full Self-Driving (FSD), its driving assistance system, should generate sizeable revenues in the coming months.
However, the company is facing many challenges: competitors in the automotive sector are growing in number and are gaining market share. Supply chains are still disrupted, raw material prices are high.
In addition, Tesla must execute all these projects to perfection. The past, especially with the production of the Model 3, has shown that this is not always easy.
Finally, Musk pretends that Apple and Saudi Aramco will rest on their current laurels.
Microsoft (MSFT) is third with a market value of $1.76 trillion, followed by Alphabet (GOOGL) at $1.3 trillion and Amazon (AMZN) at $1.2 trillion, according to companiesmarketcap.com.
Tesla is the sixth largest company in the world.
