Tesla’s Musk Channels Iacocca With Speedy U.S. Repayment Plan
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Tesla Motors Inc.’s Elon Musk is poised to follow in the footsteps of Lee Iacocca, who 30 years ago as Chrysler Corp.’s chief executive officer retired a controversial U.S. obligation years early.
Musk, Tesla’s CEO and co-founder, expanded the size of equity and debt offerings by 30 percent to as much as $1.08 billion to boost the company’s cash reserves and repay a $465 million Energy Department loan nine years ahead of schedule. Iacocca in 1983 paid Chrysler’s U.S. loan guarantees seven years early.