Tesla shares (TSLA) have been on a bit of a wild ride lately, punctuated on Friday with CEO Elon Musk tweeting he thought the shares were valued too high, sending it crashing more than 10% moments later.
Tesla stock price is too high imo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Now one of the most successful investors ever, Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway has opened up in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance on what he thinks about electric vehicles (EVs), Elon Musk, and his company Tesla.
Electric Vehicles
Buffett believes that we are heading in the right direction when it comes to electrification, but that we can’t expect it to happen quickly simply based on the numbers.
In the interview, Buffett notes there are 260 million vehicles in the US alone (that is actually from 2015, so it’s even higher now). With people keeping their cars on average for 11 to 12 years according to Buffett, there’s never going to be a dramatic shift towards EVs in the US.
He even goes so far as to say a small 10% shift is not possible in one year. That may be the case in the US, but there are a number of countries around the world where EVs already make up 10% or more of new passenger car sales, one of them being right here in Canada in British Columbia.
Elon Musk
When asked about Elon Musk, Buffett admits that the South African born engineer has done “remarkable things”. He also reveals that he has met Elon Musk several times, once after Musk joined the Giving Pledge, which is a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Also on Friday, Musk tweeted that he was going to be selling all of his possessions soon, including his house, which was formerly owned by Gene Wilder.
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Tesla
Considered to be one of the most successful investors ever, when Buffett talks stocks people pay attention. Asked if he would ever invest in Tesla through his company Berkshire Hathaway, he kept his answer short and sweet – “No.”
It should be noted that his answer is not that surprising giving his investments over the years, which have steered clear of the likes of Alphabet (Google) and Netflix.
You can watch the full interview below, which will start at the relevant part of the interview.
