Chamath Palihapitiya: Tesla’s push toward renewable energy could make it worth trillions
Chamath Palihapitiya
Olivia Michael | CNBC
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya told CNBC on Thursday that Tesla‘s growth is no longer about its electric cars, but its renewable energy components. That could make Elon Musk’s company worth trillions, he added.
“It is the leading hedge when it comes to electrification and decarbonization. This is no longer about cars, that’s the first wave of growth. I think people are pricing in the evisceration of traditional autos and an enormous shift to [electric vehicles], of which Tesla will get the disproportionate share,” Palihapitiya said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “This is worth trillions of dollars.”
Tesla has been on a tear. At this time last year, Tesla’s shares were trading around $260. Now, they’re trading above $1,500. Earlier this month, Tesla became the world’s most valuable automaker when its market cap surpassed Toyota‘s for the first time. On July 1, Tesla had a market cap of $206.5 billion compared to Toyota’s $202 billion valuation. As of Thursday morning, Tesla’s market cap is $295.3 billion.
The company also just reported its first full year of profitability on a GAAP basis.
Tesla’s energy businesses so far has taken a back seat when compared to its key autos unit, but Musk has been pushing toward growth. In its second-quarter earnings report, Tesla said its energy storage business Megapack generated a profit for the first time.
“What Tesla is going to do with their battery packs and software will all of a sudden allow each of us to be in the energy business, as well,” Palihapitiya said.
“Again, people will get angry, they will not understand, they will try to push back, and they will be wrong. And what’s going to happen is this stock is now going to represent the totality around decarbonization and sustainability, so it was really great to own this thing around cars for the first few years, I get it. But now I underwrite this stock as a push toward decarbonization, towards unregulated energy, and towards the ability for all of us to become our little micro utilities.”
