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David Einhorn blamed Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) fans for damaging reinsurer Greenlight Capital Re Ltd. The fund's performance declined year over year due to short positions in Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which hurt the return on investment.
The infamous Einhorn has long been a Tesla bear. The bearish position “detracted from performance,” said Einhorn on Greenlight Capital’s third-quarter conference call. He blamed retail investors for the loss, calling stock performance evidence of a “mania,” according to Barron's.
Once again, a shortsighted investor is trying to relieve himself of responsibility for his own decisions, placing it on the shoulders of retail investors, which indicates a complete lack of professionalism.
In Q3 2019, in a quarterly letter to clients, Einhorn argued that Tesla is still a “material loser.” He tried in every possible way to justify the actions of Greenlight Capital, which led to large financial losses. Said losses came after Tesla stock soared following its strong Q3 earnings, spiking as much as $80/share in late October.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in turn, replied that he fully understands Einhorn and sympathizes with him. As a consolation, he wanted to send him a small gift: short shorts.
“It is understandable that you wish to save face with your investors, given the losses you suffered from Tesla's successful third quarter,” he wrote, “especially since you've had several down years in performance and a sharp drop in assets under management from $15 billion to $5 billion. You have our sympathies.”
“We also recognize your desire to feel somewhat relevant with your Tesla short position at a time when your friends in the Tesla short community have been noticeably recoiling from the public discourse,” Musk added. “… Please allow us to send you a small gift of short shorts to help you through this difficult time.”
In early July 2020, Tesla, true to its promises, launched the long-promised “Short Shorts” at the electric car maker’s official store, although we do not know if they were shipped to Einhorn.
Tesla shares are up more than 400% in 2020. S3 Partners’ Ihor Dusaniwsky recently indicated that TSLA short-sellers have lost $27.04 billion in mark-to-market losses in 2020.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
