Page 132 - MS Year in Review 2020

has become the most valuable car company in the world. Its total market

value has exceeded that of Toyota. The market is placing a value of $1 million per
car delivered by Tesla, while it places a value of $10,000 per car delivered by
GM. 113 Similarly, spurred by the restrictions on face to face contact from the

pandemic, Zoom has become virtually iconic. Its usage and revenue have
accelerated dramatically, and its share price has increased almost 600 % from
about 69 pr share on January 2, 2020 to about $480 per share on October 5. Its

market value increased to about $136 Billion.

Growing Pains at Tesla and Zoom

There is evidence that growing pains have emerged at all three of our examples of:
Tesla, Uber, and Zoom:

 Tesla:
o There are clearly problems in Tesla’s operational systems. Specifically,

In February, 2018, an article in the Los Angeles Times was entitled
“Tesla’s Troubles. 114 ” It discussed some early problems that are being
reported by “Model 3” owners. Later in the article it referred to “Tesla’s

‘Growing Pains.’” 115
o On June 25, 2020, an article in the Wall Street Journal, states “Tesla

Falls Short in Customer Satisfaction Survey. 116 ”

 Zoom:

o The explosive growth of its usage has led to some technical problems in
Zoom’s operational systems, including problems of logging in, echoes,
and security issues. Although these are clearly warning symptoms of

growing pains, they are relatively less severe that the problems at Tesla

113 Ben Levinsohn, The Trader “Thanks, Apple for the Stock markets All-time High,” Barron’s, August
24, 2020, p. M1.
114 Russ Mitchell, “Tesla’s Troubles,” Los Angeles Times. Business, pp.1 and 7, February 18, 2018.
115 Ibid, p. 7.
116 Tim Higgins, “Tesla Falls Short in Customer Satisfaction Survey,” Wall Street Journal, June 25,
2020, p. B. 1

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