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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/valleywag/2008/10/elontesla_01.jpg” width=”165″ height=”125″ align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ /Tesla Motors, the automaker which is Silicon Valley’s best hope to build an electric-car industry, will run out of cash in three months if it does not raise new financing. CEO Elon Musk has confirmed Valleywag’s report that it has spent most of its customers’ deposits and is running low on cash. In an interview with Reuters, CEO Elon Musk a href=”http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-autos/idUSTRE49U1E620081031?pageNumber=1virtualBrandChannel=10339″conceded that the company only has $9 million in the bank/a, as a concerned Tesla employee a href=”http://valleywag.com/5071621/tesla-motors-has-9-million-in-the-bank-may-not-deliver-cars”told us yesterday/a. Tesla’s contract with customers specifies that deposits can be used for “working capital” mdash; but last I checked, “working capital” means liquidity available to a company. It does not mean “money that has gone out the door.” So Tesla may arguably be in breach of contract with the 1,200 customers who have put between $5,000 and $60,000 down for its Tesla Roadster. Tesla has only delivered 50 cars./p pMusk has previously said that Tesla will be able to turn cash-flow positive in nine months, if it receives new investment. He now says he’s seeking an additional $20 million from Tesla’s current investors, and expects to get it next week./p pDo the math: If Tesla has $9 million in the bank, and requires another $20 million to get to positive cash flow over the next nine months, then it is burning at least $3 million a month. And that’s emafter/em it laid off 24 percent of its workforce and announced plans to shutter its Detroit office./p br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/valleywag/2008/10/microsoft.jpg” width=”350″ height=”149″ /Search engine marketing guru Danny Sullivan says small-time businesses are stealing other’s listings in Google Maps. “Florists, locksmiths, payday loan companies and others have found their listings a href=”http://searchengineland.com/google-local-business-hijacking-microsoft-acquires-yahoo-becomes-escort-service-15313.php”hijacked in this manner/a.” It’s a hack so obvious I’m surprised no one at Google thought of it: You can edit the listing for your competitors to include your business name, URL and phone instead of theirs. Wikipedia meets the Yellow Pages! a href=”http://valleywag.com/5045740/twitter-guy-proves-vint-cerf-really-needs-a-job”Vint Cerf/a totally saw this coming. Too bad no one listens to him./p br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/valleywag/2008/10/2901215698_0c34473889_o.jpg” width=”345″ height=”512″ align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ /”Where have Silicon Valley’s Republicans gone?” a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10079225-38.html”laments/a CNET News writer Declan McCullagh. George W. Bush backer Tim Draper has switched to the Obama team. There are a few stalwarts: Former Valley CEOs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have campaigned for McCain. And the two are going to be special guests at an election-night party thrown by Lead21. The group, which describes itself as “an influential political organization formed by entrepreneurial business leaders,” is a href=”http://www.lead21.org/events/”coy/a about the location of the party./p pBut we’re not. It’s being held at the rented mansion of Facebook board member Peter Thiel, the former PayPal CEO and founder of Clarium Capital, a hedge fund. Thiel backed Ron Paul in the primaries, but what we really want to know is: What is the a href=”http://valleywag.com/335894/peter-thiel-is-totally-gay-people”gay investor’s/a position on a href=”http://valleywag.com/5071165/valley-homophobes-still-drafting-yes-on-prop-8-response-ad”California’s proposed gay-marriage ban/a? Festivities start at 6 p.m. Oh, need directions? Thiel is a href=”http://www.google.com/search?client=safarirls=enq=peter+thiel+san+francisco,+caie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8″listed in the phone book/a./p pem(Photo by a href=”http://venturebeat.com/2008/09/08/tc50-live-blogging-the-peter-thiel-interview/”Eric Eldon/VentureBeat/a)/em/p br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/valleywag/2008/10/sf.1030.bartwifi6.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”497″ height=”312″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /The latest casualty of the credit crunch: a href=”http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/BART_Wi-Fi_plan_hits_funding_skid.html”BART’s in-progress rollout of Wi-Fi/a on its trains. “a href=”http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/BART_Wi-Fi_plan_hits_funding_skid.html”People won’t loan risk capital until you have a contract/a,” says an executive for Wi-Fi Rail, the startup tagged with the job. Commuters were promised “ten times faster than DSL” access on BART trains within the next two to three years. A test program had already wired four stations in downtown SF, and 13,000 riders had registered for the service. But BART’s schedule was contingent on Wi-Fi Rail raising $20 million, which in itself was contingent on BART signing a contract. Now, of course, even a signed contract won’t unlock the big bucks. For BART riders, that means no Internet access during your commute, not for years. Good thing you’re getting laid off. em(Photo by The Examiner/a href=”http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/BART_Wi-Fi_plan_hits_funding_skid.html”Cindy Chew/a)/em/p br style=”clear: both;”/
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