Tesla, a Ponzi Scheme?
- Published on 08/04/2025 10:55
- Modified on 23/09/2025 10:42
Elon Musk once again finds himself at the center of controversy, this time being directly attacked by his own daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson.
Beyond the family tensions that are not for us to judge, her criticisms target especially Tesla, which she does not hesitate to describe as a “Ponzi scheme,” thus casting serious doubt on the company’s financial foundations.
In a series of interviews, Vivian, who is a transgender woman, expressed her skepticism towards Tesla’s meteoric success. According to her, Tesla does not operate as a true automotive company but as an unstable economic system where the investments of new shareholders are used to pay older ones, rather than generating revenue from a real and sustainable activity. This operation, typical of Ponzi schemes, relies on the illusion of high profitability but collapses as soon as the influx of new investors slows. She highlights Tesla’s particularly high price/earnings ratio, a measure that indicates how disconnected the share price is from the company’s actual profits, to illustrate her point.
By criticizing Tesla in this way, Vivian Wilson is hitting where it hurts most. Many financial analysts remain skeptical of the company’s inability to justify its sky-high market valuation with solid commercial performance. Although Tesla dominates the electric vehicle market, some observers believe its growth relies more on futuristic promises and investor speculation than on robust economic fundamentals. But after all, investing is a matter of future vision, so is there really room for criticism? Tesla’s success obviously does not rest on a Ponzi scheme but on a forward-looking vision of mobility. If investors overestimate the company’s value in which they invest their money, they can only blame themselves. Speculation is a sport for the wealthy…
But this criticism of Tesla fits within a broader discourse on Elon Musk’s communication and management, which Vivian describes as more manipulative than visionary. She sees in grandiloquent announcements, such as those related to Mars colonization or the optimization of humanoid robots, tools meant to maintain media attention and artificially boost the value of his companies.
By questioning Tesla and its operations, Vivian Wilson is not merely raising family issues. Her statements, although extremely critical, resonate with growing concerns about the practices and ambitions of the electric vehicle giant. Whatever is said or thought, the damage is done. These accusations of “Ponzi scheme” can only further undermine trust in Tesla and its emblematic CEO.
This page is translated from the original post "Tesla, une Pyramide de Ponzi ?" in French.
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