Tesla lost ~$2B last year, owes ~$10B in debt, and owes >$400M in interest payments per year alone.
Moody’s downgraded Tesla’s bond rating because Tesla will need to raise more money this year, at least $2B (which is an extremely conservative figure), to avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Elon Musk also owes >$600M in personal debt that he financed using Tesla stock as collateral. This means that if Tesla stock dips below around $233/share, Musk would face a margin call (sell Tesla stock, driving stock prices lower), or put down more Tesla stock as collateral to fund his debt.
By the way, 90% of the Boring company’s funds come from Elon Musk himself, possibly funded by this personal debt.
Other red flags are that shareholders sued Tesla board members for breaching their fiduciary duties by allowing Tesla to acquire Solar City, assuming an extra ~$3B in debt; and Tesla’s CFO Jason Wheeler left Tesla in 2017 with over half of his stock left to vest.
The reason people are shorting Tesla is that beyond Elon Musk’s cult of personality, the numbers don’t add up. Tesla will need to raise more money this year to survive.
Feel free to fact check all of this.