*By Bridgette Webb and Amanda Weston*
Tesla's board is going ahead with its review of Elon Musk’s gambit to take the company private, though there's still lots of skepticism around the deal and its various backers.
"We still don't know who the backer is and what the deal structure will end up looking like," said Christian Prenzler, vice president of business development at Teslarati. "I definitely wouldn't bet against the deal's existence or the gravity it brings to what we know as Tesla on the NASDAQ."
Musk's plan, announced on Twitter on Tuesday, would take the electric carmaker private at a price of $420 a share. He's argued that Tesla would be less disruptive as a private company. It would also allow the company to escape the glaring spotlight of fluctuating stock prices, mounting questions on model 3 production goals and quarterly reports.
Investors may see an upside in such a move, according to Prenzler, and a number of potential backers have been rumored, including the Saudi Wealth Fund, Tencent and Softbank.
"It’s being pitched like an investment in a company like Uber," Prenzler said. "It’s a long-term plan. They’re betting on Musk making a million cars in a year. "
Still, Prenzler sees value in keeping Tesla public.
"It’s very healthy for a company to be public, to be under the public eye, to have a lot of accountability. And to be forced into really revealing a lot of information and going into some of these rough times," Prenzler said.
Jason Moser, an analyst at The Motley Fool, said in a separate interview with Cheddar that Musk's ambitions require "extremely long-term thinking," and may be more suitable for a private company.
"In order to be as successful as possible, I think he would rather be able to run this business without being held to sort of arbitrary guidelines perhaps that Wall Street throws out there on a quarterly basis," Moser said.
SpaceX, another one of Musk's companies, has been able to function out of the spotlight, allowing Musk to execute long-term planning.
"With Tesla, I love what he's doing. I think the world needs more of what they're doing, and I think that getting out of the public scrutiny and public markets would probably give him the best opportunity to go ahead and execute that," Moser said.
Like Prenzler, Moser thinks that Musk will get his way, eventually.
"When he wants something, he can get it because he's relentless," said Moser. "He keeps at it until he figures out a way, so if he really wants to take this business private, and it sounds like he does, I don't think he's going to have a problem getting there."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-next-era-for-tesla).
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
February 8 is Safer Internet Day, and Google has partnered with online education organization Khan Academy to release a courseload focused on internet safety. The partnership includes a $5 million donation towards content development from Google, with modules to be made available in various languages throughout 2022. Founder of Khan Academy, Sal Khan, joined Cheddar News to discuss the partnership. "We need to get to a world where everyone of all ages has a chance to learn and practice and feel good that they can navigate the internet in a safe way,” said Khan.
Big tech companies such as Amazon and Google are garnering criticism for failing at their proposed climate pledges, most of which rely on carbon offsets — a potential loophole where companies pay others to address their omissions. Gilles Dufrasne, policy officer at Carbon Market Watch, joined Cheddar News to explain the organization's negative evaluation. "The objective here is not to bash companies and say everybody is doing the wrong thing," he said. "The objective is to also provide lessons, and there are some companies that are doing the right thing."
U.S. markets opened lower as disappointing Meta earnings dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Today, investors will be watching for Amazon's Q4 earnings report set for release after the market close. Greg Swenson, Founding Partner, Brigg Macadam joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened mostly higher led by gains in the tech sector on strong Q4 earnings. It comes after a tumultuous January which saw stocks suffer one of their worst months since the early days of the pandemic. Jim Worden, Chief Investment Officer, Wealth Consulting Group joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss early market activity.
CLMBR is hoping to become the next big thing in connected fitness. The brand offers a high intensity, low impact workout with on-demand, instructor-led classes. Avrum Elmakis, CLMBR's CEO and founder, joined Cheddar to discuss where the company is heading next.
