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Did the Tesla story ever make sense?

Maybe Elon Musk’s company never deserved that sky-high market valuation

FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk speaks onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/File Photo

Tesla sales have depended at least in part on the perception that chief executive Elon Musk (above) is a cool guy, the writer says.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Paul Krugman

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If you’re one of those people who bought Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency near its peak in the autumn of 2021, you’ve lost a lot of money. Is it any consolation to know that you would have lost a similar amount if you had bought Tesla stock instead?

Okay, probably not. Still,

Tesla stock’s plunge

is an opportunity to talk about what makes businesses successful in the information age. And in the end, Tesla and Bitcoin may have more in common than you think.

Did the Tesla story ever make sense?

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