"is bold and brilliant, and he swings for the fences."
and ...
"People like that get some remarkable results,” Munger continued. “Sometimes they get some quick failures. I haven’t the faintest idea how Elon Musk will turn out, but he has a considerable chance of success and considerable chance of failure. He seems to like it that way."
Wait a second, by all measures this billionaire is _already_ successful, no? How could anyone claim the contrary?
It’s more like being a medieval king: to the extent that you’re the shareholder, your wealth is the “nation’s” wealth; your guards are paid for out of your pocket; and you can be drawn into conflicts that lead to you losing everything.
It’s that latter part that I’d be worried about with Musk. He took a very big gamble with SpaceX, and if one more launch had failed in the early years, he would’ve become a mere footnote on someone else’s Wikipedia page. The concern is he might make similar gambles in future.
Will he be reduced to a mad man shouting on twitter, with nothing left to his name but failed enterprises?
Or will he carve the moon in his image?