Elon Musk Says Tesla Co-Founder Eberhard ‘Was Wealthy And Could Have Risked His Money, But…’
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Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk responded to a Twitter post that played down his role in the automaker's early years.
What Happened: Musk's reaction was in response to a post by @SamTwits who said that a post shared on Twitter was "misleading."
The original post by YouTuber Jake Broe portrayed Tesla co-founders Mark Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard as "brilliant men who founded Tesla."
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"Elon was just a series-A investor who bought in, then sabotaged the company enough until these men were pushed out, then he spent the next ten years telling everyone he founded Tesla," said Broe.
Musk pointed out that he was "head of product and led the design of the original Roadster."
He said, "Eberhard was wealthy and could have risked his money, but was unwilling to do so."
More importantly, I was head of product and led the design of the original Roadster. Eberhard was wealthy and could have risked his money, but was unwilling to do so. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022
The billionaire entrepreneur said the ArtCenter College of Design gave him an "honorary degree" for his work on the original Tesla Roadster.
Musk also said it was due to him that the company got to use its trademark and later obtained its URL.
Was also due to me that we got trademark to use Tesla Motors as initial name & later obtained https://t.co/46TXqRJBrz URL Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022
Why It Matters: In April, Musk said he wished he had "never met Eberhard" and called him "pure poison."
Eberhard founded Tesla in 2003 with Tarpenning while Musk was chairman and served as CEO until 2007.
Musk has previously dismissed allegations that he "stole" Tesla from Eberhard saying that when the latter was fired in mid-2007, no one left with him and that says it all.
At the time, Musk also questioned the Wikipedia entries about Eberhard's role terming them "sketchy."
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