LK - What Elon Musk Needs to Learn From the Luckin Coffee Fiasco
At first glance, it'd be hard to find two companies as little alike as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ: LK). The electric vehicle specialist and the emerging coffee company obviously offer much different products, and they have headquarters in different countries and focus largely on different market niches. Sure, a Tesla driver in China might have a Luckin Coffee cup in the car's cup holder, but beyond that, there's not much common ground.
Yet as it turns out, the top executives of Tesla and Luckin do have something in common, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk might be able to learn a lesson from the recent experiences of Luckin CEO Jenny Qian and board chairman Charles Lu. The common ground they share is that they all pledged shares of their respective companies' stock to take out loans. Those pledges hurt Qian and Lu hard, and while they haven't bitten Musk yet, the Tesla leader would be wise to take heed before it's too late.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Image source: The Motley Fool.