"Musk is not in it for the money."

[For the source of the quote...]

From a product standpoint, SolarCity isn't a very interesting company. Tesla has made some impressive cars and the engineers at SpaceX have made real progress building on TRW's foundation. SC's best known product is, by comparison, roof tiles that didn't actually exist when Musk demonstrated (and still don't match the specs he claimed.

However, for those trying to make sense of Musk the businessman, keeping up with the SolarCity story. We've already recommended this excellent long-form expose by Bethany McLean (best known for her reporting on Enron, which should give you some idea where things are going). For a more up-to-date account, check out this from Dana Hull. 

Remider: Musk used his other entities to raise capital for SolarCity, including @SpaceX. SpaceX had $255 million of SolarCity bonds and Musk bought $65 million worth of SCTY bonds himself. For a deep dive, read this: https://t.co/TfA32F0oUw

— Dana "Vaxxed & Masking Indoors” Hull 👩🏻‍💻 (@danahull) July 13, 2021

[Emphasis added]

Tesla’s board initially balked at the proposal. So did Evercore Inc., one of the banks it brought in to evaluate the deal. (Not that they felt their guidance would be heeded: “It’s Elon’s world. We just live in it,” an Evercore banker joked in an email.) Even Tesla’s then-Chief Financial Officer Jason Wheeler raised concerns. “We have Model 3 happening. We have a lot of things going on. We ourselves have a large debt load,” Wheeler said in his June 2019 deposition. “Why do we need to do this now, Elon?” 

Then there were the jarring conflicts of interest. Besides his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive running SolarCity, its board and Tesla’s had complicated overlaps. Six of Tesla’s seven directors were Musk associates (including his brother, Kimbal) with SolarCity ties. Antonio Gracias was on the board of both companies. What’s more, Musk had used his other entities to raise capital for SolarCity: SpaceX, for example, had purchased $255 million of SolarCity bonds. Musk bought $65 million worth. Tesla’s directors had to grapple with this apparent self-dealing as Musk pushed them to reconsider the acquisition in May 2016. Musk said he recused himself from these deliberations, but court filings indicate he remained actively involved, even advocating for the move directly with bankers and investors. 

To win over shareholders, Musk came up with the concept of a “Solar Roof” that resembled a traditional rooftop shingle but could capture power from the sun. At a joint Tesla-SolarCity event in Los Angeles in October 2016, Musk showed off the product to an impressed audience. The demos he unveiled weren’t functional, but the acquisition received approval a few weeks later.

Musk may still dodge this bullet but if he does, it probably says more about the legal system than it does about his case.

Musk's argument that Tesla needed SolarCity deal to aid its Powerwall battery business is, uh, a stretch. Every solar installer in the U.S. touts Powerwall batteries to would-be customers. They aren't exclusive to people who order Tesla solar systems 🤔 https://t.co/QKXzVc0NFD

— Alan Ohnsman 🚶🏼‍♂️🚲🚌🚄 (@alanohnsman) July 13, 2021

Perhaps the most telling testimony came from Kimbal Musk in an earlier hearing. The whole thread is highly recommended.

6/ On October 20th, 2015, SolarCity stock is starting to fall, and Kimbal is facing a potential margin call. He is asking Elon for a loan or considering selling SpaceX stock. He knows he is going to sell some $TSLA stock in November via his predetermined 10b5-1 plan. $TSLAQ pic.twitter.com/nmJt2I0bpp

— TC (@TESLAcharts) October 29, 2019