{"id":417,"date":"2025-02-06T08:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/?p=243722"},"modified":"2025-02-06T08:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:41:21","slug":"teslas-2016-solarcity-acquisition-was-approved-by-85-of-teslas-shareholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/green-news\/teslas-2016-solarcity-acquisition-was-approved-by-85-of-teslas-shareholders\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla\u2019s 2016 SolarCity Acquisition Was Approved By 85% Of Tesla\u2019s Shareholders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the top cleantech stories of recent weeks (or months) in the mainstream media has been Elon Musk\u2019s trial regarding Tesla\u2019s acquisition of SolarCity. We haven\u2019t covered it, because we covered the acquisition years ago in depth and we don\u2019t typically cover lawsuits, but since it\u2019s been so broadly covered, let\u2019s touch upon some things that may have been left out of the media coverage.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Elon Musk DESTROYS Lawyer In Court Over Frivolous Lawsuit\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a_ApfqlS_ps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I stumbled upon Steve Mark Ryan\u2019s video where he talked about how Elon Musk and the plaintiff\u2019s attorney went at it. I grabbed some popcorn and dove right in \u2014 and learned some more details surrounding the SolarCity acquisition that I personally didn\u2019t know since I wasn\u2019t following Tesla back then. These details are well known to those who followed Tesla pretty closely for many years, back into 2016 at least, but a large number of us started following the company more recently.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_112428\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" readability=\"32\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition.png\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-112428\" data-attachment-id=\"112428\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2016\/11\/17\/teslas-solarcity-acquisition-approved\/tsla-scty-tesla-solarcity-acquisition\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition.png\" data-orig-size=\"650,403\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"tsla-scty-tesla-solarcity-acquisition\" data-image-description data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-400x248.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-570x353.png\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-112428 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-400x248.png\" alt width=\"400\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-400x248.png 400w, https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-270x167.png 270w, https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition-570x353.png 570w, https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2016\/11\/TSLA-SCTY-Tesla-SolarCity-acquisition.png 650w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-112428\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CleanTechnica reader survey chart in November 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are a few key takeaways from Steven\u2019s video that I wanted to share:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2016\/11\/17\/teslas-solarcity-acquisition-approved\/\">85% of Tesla\u2019s shareholders voted in favor of the SolarCity acquisition<\/a> (side note: in an initial survey on <em>CleanTechnica<\/em> about the proposal, 74% of readers approved of the idea, and a later survey brought that figure up to 89% \u2014 almost the exact same as the eventual Tesla shareholder vote \u2014 click that link above for more on the topic).<\/li>\n<li>Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla Master Plan included plans for Tesla Energy \u2014 10 years before Tesla\u2019s SolarCity acquisition.<\/li>\n<li>The acquisition led to the world\u2019s only vertically integrated sustainable energy company.<\/li>\n<li>Mainstream media FUD\u2019s effect on the stock is weakening.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Shareholders From Both Companies Approved Of Tesla\u2019s Acquisition<\/h2>\n<p>From the recent reports and the lawsuit, it would seem as if Elon Musk randomly bought SolarCity. Articles claiming that shareholders were upset and were suing gave the impression that Elon took the company hostage, when this is not the case at all if you just look at the shareholder vote (which Elon abstained from). Steven emphasized several times in his video that shareholders from both companies \u2014 himself included \u2014 voted in favor of Tesla\u2019s SolarCity acquisition. Somehow, though, that has hardly been mentioned in coverage of this trial.<\/p>\n<h2>Vertical Integration<\/h2>\n<p>Steven pointed out that one of the keys to Tesla\u2019s success today is its vertical integration \u2014 a brilliant idea that made so much sense. For those who don\u2019t understand what this means, there are two types of business integration strategies: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/ask\/answers\/051315\/what-difference-between-horizontal-integration-and-vertical-integration.asp\">vertical and horizontal<\/a>. In the case of the latter, a company would buy a competitor \u2014 for example, Tesla buying Ford or another automaker. Vertical integration, however, is a strategy that moves the company forward or backward to cover more of the supply chain. Since Tesla already had plans to become an energy company, it seems like this was a brilliant move. Today, Tesla is able to increase its profits with more control over its products, and solar technology is blossoming like a flower in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tesla.com\/blog\/tesla-and-solarcity-combine\">Tesla\u2019s 2016 blog post<\/a>, which announced the combination of Tesla and Solar City, Tesla stated:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolar and storage are at their best when they\u2019re combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>This Was An Opportunity For Tesla To Fulfill More Of Its Master Plan<\/h2>\n<p>There were many voices of opposition, doom, and gloom surrounding this decision and all were claiming that Tesla would fail. However, most of the media and critics forgot Tesla\u2019s mission, which is to accelerate the transition to <em>sustainable energy<\/em>. That core mission doesn\u2019t even reference cars or transport, ironically. Tesla isn\u2019t here just to sell solar or cars. Anyone can do that. Tesla is here to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, which involves both.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tesla.com\/blog\/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me\">Elon\u2019s first Tesla Master Plan blog post<\/a>, he got into more detail on what the company\u2019s goals were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Build sports car<\/li>\n<li>Use that money to build an affordable car<\/li>\n<li>Use that money to build an even more affordable car<\/li>\n<li><strong>While doing above, also provide zero-emission electric power generation options<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Take note of the bold text (<em>emphasis added<\/em>), the date of that plan, and the date of the SolarCity acquisition, and then look at today\u2019s progress and compare. It\u2019s crystal clear that under the guidance of Tesla\u2019s shareholders, who made the final votes on the 2016 acquisition, this was the best move for Tesla to pursue its original vision.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla isn\u2019t just trying to make money, it\u2019s trying to make large-scale changes to society, and today we can look back and see that the company is doing just that. EVs are in the mainstream and are gaining market share globally with each passing year. Tesla is the leader of the automotive stock market, and even though it doesn\u2019t sell many EVs compared to legacy auto, its voice is loud and clear. Legacy automakers have stopped mocking Tesla and have started trying to compete or even copy it. This type of change doesn\u2019t happen overnight, and we are still witnessing the changes. Tesla\u2019s not finished \u2014 not by a long shot.<\/p>\n<h2>Mainstream Media FUD\u2019s Effect On The Stock Is Weakening<\/h2>\n<p>Steven and others on Twitter have pointed this out. No matter how negative the headlines have gotten, it seems that as of late, the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) some create about Tesla isn\u2019t working. Perhaps this is why many have taken shots at Elon Musk, calling him \u201cbillionaire\u201d as an insult. Yes, he\u2019s a billionaire, but he didn\u2019t steal money from the poor as the negative connotation would have.<\/p>\n<p>What Elon did (after starting a few companies based on his interest in computers and selling them for a good amount of money) was put all of his money on the line in order to pursue his largest visions \u2014 two of those being the electric transportation revolution and the solar energy or clean energy revolution. To many people\u2019s surprise, he has succeeded much more than he has failed and Tesla is now a well integrated sustainable energy company that offers the <a href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2021\/06\/30\/tesla-model-3-model-y-1-and-2-in-global-ev-sales-in-may\/\">most competitive, top selling electric cars in the world<\/a> as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2020\/09\/12\/elon-musk-explains-why-tesla-solar-power-is-so-cheap-cleantechnica-exclusive\/\">the cheapest rooftop solar power in the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/WN_7cylts5HRSq5C_mcxTSvBA\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-attachment-id=\"243632\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2021\/07\/16\/one-of-worlds-largest-floating-solar-pv-power-projects-completed-in-singapore\/28-07-webinar-accelerating-quality-4_with-button\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/07\/28-07-Webinar-Accelerating-Quality-4_with-button.png\" data-orig-size=\"1200,801\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"28-07 Webinar Accelerating Quality 4_with button\" data-image-description data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/07\/28-07-Webinar-Accelerating-Quality-4_with-button-400x267.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/07\/28-07-Webinar-Accelerating-Quality-4_with-button-800x534.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-243632 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/07\/28-07-Webinar-Accelerating-Quality-4_with-button.png\" alt width=\"1200\" height=\"801\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"afterpost\">\n<em>Appreciate CleanTechnica\u2019s originality? Consider becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/future.cleantechnica.com\/subscribe\/\">CleanTechnica Member, Supporter, Technician, or Ambassador<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 or a&nbsp;patron on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cleantechnica\/\">Patreon<\/a>.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/future.cleantechnica.com\/subscribe\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-attachment-id=\"236883\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/cleantechnica-tech-news-tesla-news-ev-solar-news\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/04\/CleanTechnica-Tech-News-Tesla-News-EV-Solar-News.png\" data-orig-size=\"900,346\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"CleanTechnica Tech News Tesla News EV Solar News\" data-image-description data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/04\/CleanTechnica-Tech-News-Tesla-News-EV-Solar-News-400x154.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/04\/CleanTechnica-Tech-News-Tesla-News-EV-Solar-News-800x308.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-236883 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2021\/05\/Tech-News-Solar-News-Tesla-News-EV-Batteries-Renewable-Energy-cleantechnica-support-subscribers-banner.gif\" alt width=\"900\" height=\"346\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>\n&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p> <center><!-- CT new after-post --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1552008901061842\" data-ad-slot=\"4461458457\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<\/center>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p> <center><a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/cleantechnica\/daily-newsletter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-attachment-id=\"175827\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2021\/03\/03\/aviva-aims-to-be-1st-major-insurer-worldwide-to-target-net-zero-carbon-by-2040\/cleantechnica_newsletter_green-tesla-solar-wind-energy-ev-news\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2019\/04\/CleanTechnica_newsletter_green-Tesla-solar-wind-energy-EV-news.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1666,208\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"CleanTechnica_newsletter_green-Tesla-solar-wind-energy-EV-news\" data-image-description data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2019\/04\/CleanTechnica_newsletter_green-Tesla-solar-wind-energy-EV-news.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2019\/04\/CleanTechnica_newsletter_green-Tesla-solar-wind-energy-EV-news.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-175827\" src=\"https:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/files\/2019\/04\/CleanTechnica_newsletter_green-Tesla-solar-wind-energy-EV-news.jpg\" alt width=\"1666\" height=\"208\"><\/a><\/center> <\/p>\n<div class=\"afterpost\">\n<em>Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleantechnica.com\/contact\/\">Contact us here<\/a>.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the top cleantech stories of recent weeks (or months) in the mainstream media has been Elon Musk\u2019s trial regarding Tesla\u2019s acquisition of SolarCity. We haven\u2019t covered it, because we covered the acquisition years ago in depth and we don\u2019t typically cover lawsuits, but since it\u2019s been so broadly covered, let\u2019s touch upon some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3323,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions\/3323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}