In 2018, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company had secured funding to take the company private at $420 a share. The SEC saw this as a punishable offense, costing both Tesla and Musk $20 million each, as well as forcing Musk to step down from his role as the chairman of the board. Elon felt that the $20 million punishment for the company was unfair, as he is the one who wrote and sent the tweet. To help the company out, Elon bought $20 million worth of Tesla stock, and he has actually made money off of the stock he purchased then. With Tesla’s stock recently reaching new heights, over $1,400 a share, Musk made close to $100 million on the stock that he bought at the time of the settlement. Ultimately, Musk made about $60 million from sending that tweet on top of recouping the original millions he was fined.
Someone recently tried to burn down the house of the Mayor of Sandefjord, Norway and it has sparked a surprisingly modern investigation. Seeing as how Norway is the country with the highest percentage of Tesla’s sold compared to other cars, and 60% of new cars sold in the country are electric, it means that there are cameras all over the streets. The cameras are not typical CCTV cameras, but rather cameras on the front, rear and sides of Tesla’s parked everywhere. The Sandefjord police are currently trying to use the footage captured from nearby Tesla’s with Sentry Mode activated to identify the perpetrator. In much of Norway, street parking is free for electric cars, and there are several EV chargers located at street parking spots, so many EV owners choose to park their cars overnight on the street, and let them charge on Norway’s 98% green energy. This means that every time a car drives by, or someone walks by a street parked Tesla with Sentry Mode enabled, a video is captured from all angles, possibly allowing the police to identify either the car that the perpetrator was driving, or even the identity of the perpetrator themselves. This surprisingly futuristic look into how modern technology can benefit not only the owner of the car, but the public at large is a great insight into why features such as these set Tesla apart from the competition.