Rebirth of England.

Chapter 631 Visit Tesla

November 11th is the election day in the United States. On this day, a nationwide vote will be held to elect the 4th President.

Of course, that day was Tuesday.

Because the voting day for the US presidential election is set on the first Tuesday after November 11 of the election year...

The reason why November was chosen was based on the tradition of agricultural society - the crop harvest season has ended.

Tuesday was chosen because many voters have to travel long distances to reach the polling stations, and most voters are unwilling to move on Sunday because they have to attend religious activities.

The vote avoided November 11 because that day is Halloween in the United States.

The election in the United States is not a direct election by the whole people, but an electoral system is implemented. After the national election, the candidate who wins the election must pass the vote of the Electoral College composed of electors from each state. The candidate who receives the most votes in a state wins all the electoral votes in that state.

The Electoral College refers to a group of "electors" who are nominated by political activists and party members in each state. It consists of 538 electors distributed among the 50 states and the capital, Washington, D.C.

Each state has an equal number of electors to the number of representatives it has in both houses of Congress.

California, the most populous state in the United States, has 55 electoral votes, while Alaska, a sparsely populated state, has only 3.

Except in extremely special circumstances, if a candidate wins the popular vote in a state, he or she will receive all of the electoral votes in that state.

On Election Day, these electors are chosen by popular vote to pledge their support for a particular candidate.

In December after the presidential election, the elected electors vote in their state capitals to elect the president and vice president.

There are a total of 538 electors, and the candidate who obtains 270 electoral votes can be elected.

Some people may ask, is it possible that in a certain week's voting, option A received more votes, but in the end the electors voted for B?
In fact, in the modern history of the United States, electors have never voted against the winner of the popular vote.

The current US presidential election will be held between the Democratic candidate Barack Obama and the Democratic candidate John McCain. George W. Bush cannot continue to participate according to the law because he has been re-elected for two terms.

This election can be said to have attracted much attention, because no matter what, it has set many records in American history.

For example, this is the first time that two incumbent senators are running for president…

For the first time, an African American was nominated for president by a major party…

For the first time, both major candidates were born outside the United States—Okanagan in Hawaii and McCain in the Panama Canal Zone…

Since McCain's running mate Palin is a woman, no matter which combination wins, the result will be of historic significance - either the first black president in American history or the first female vice president of the United States.

It is worth mentioning that in American politics, the Vice President has a low presence - his official duty is to serve as President of the Senate, but this is mainly ceremonial because he only votes when the votes in the Senate are equal.

The deputy commander's daily duties are usually based on the commander's request and are usually insignificant, such as attending the funeral of a foreign leader on behalf of the commander. However...

According to the U.S. Constitution, if the President dies or becomes incapable of working, the Vice President will take over the position of President - becoming the Vice President first is one way to ascend to the throne of the President of the United States.

Since World War II, three deputy presidents have taken over the position of president during the term of the president.

Truman succeeded as president due to Roosevelt's death, Johnson succeeded as president due to Kennedy's assassination, and Ford succeeded as president due to Nixon's resignation.

Just as the American election was in full swing, Barron also came to California in a very low-key manner.

"Your Highness, Costco's stock price has fallen by more than 25% compared to the second quarter. We have begun to acquire shares through the secondary market. At the same time, we are still in contact with institutional shareholders. Compared with three months ago, the attitudes of most institutions have loosened. After all, the entire American stock market is in turmoil, and cash is the most valuable thing."

Sitting in the back seat of the Bentley Mulsanne, Barron listened to Zhang Junning beside him, reporting to him the recent important news from America:
"Even Berkshire Hathaway, which had previously rejected us most firmly, changed its tune during the most recent contact and said it would consider selling Costco shares, but they emphasized that price is the most important factor to consider..."

There is no need to rush to acquire Costco for the time being. After all, this retail group will have to wait until next year to see improvement, and their stock price will still reach a low point at the beginning of next year.

Therefore, unlike the initial proactive approach to purchase Costco shares, which was ruthlessly rejected by Berkshire Hathaway and other holding institutions, although the company is still in contact with these institutions now, its attitude has become very subtle. On the contrary, due to the continued decline of the entire American stock market, including Costco, more and more institutions have given up hope and are willing to sell Costco shares.

"At present, our Roadster electric sports cars have been delivered to users one after another. Although there are some minor accidents, we will solve them..."

At Tesla's headquarters in Silicon Valley, Barron met the company's new CEO Musk - yes, at this time, Tesla's headquarters was still in Silicon Valley and had not yet moved to Texas.

Many people call Musk the founder of Tesla. In fact, Tesla was first founded by Eberhard and his partner Tarpenning. Later, Musk, who sold Paypal, invested in Tesla and became the chairman of the company.

Tesla's first electric car to be sold was the Roadster sports car, but the production process of this car was not smooth. Its original selling price was $10, but because the cost seriously exceeded the budget, its selling price was repeatedly raised - you know, users who ordered the Roadster sports car at this time had already paid a deposit, which caused dissatisfaction among users.

Starting from September last year, the rift between Eberhard and Musk finally broke out due to out-of-control costs and lengthening development cycles.

Then in January of this year, Eberhard, the original CEO and one of the founders of Tesla, was kicked out of the company and was replaced by Ziff Droret as CEO of Tesla.

Then last month, Musk took over the position of CEO directly, becoming the chairman and CEO of Tesla, holding the power.

At this time, both the founder Eberhard and his partner Tarpenning left the company one after another.

However, due to the unsuccessful development and production of the Roadster electric sports car, coupled with the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, Tesla not only fell into trouble, but also had great difficulty in financing - after all, at a time when fuel-powered cars are popular, no one believes that electric cars, especially Tesla's current ones, can really succeed.

In fact, Barron had already started paying attention to Tesla earlier.

It's just that Musk had already entered Tesla and took control of Tesla...

And it has to be admitted that although Musk is very "jumpy", Tesla's success is indeed closely related to his joining. Therefore, Baron did not intervene in the company too early, but looked for better opportunities.

(End of this chapter)