Yet by that standard, Tesla as well as Amazon are "awful businesses" too. He's not looking to the future, or closely examining why they're losing money.
As for why I think it's an awful business:
1) Huge amount of debt 2) Hugely negative free cash flow (-$790m last year)
Sometimes this can work, but it's absolutely the last thing Tesla needs (they need to put cash to work building out the battery factory and production of the Model 3, not subsidize solar panels).
He wouldn't have done this if he hadn't carefully analyzed every aspect of the situation and concluded it could all be done. He's not just throwing dice in the air. Neither SpaceX nor Tesla could have done any of the things they've done if he was.