After the Tesla Gigafactory was announced, but before a location was selected, there was rampant speculation regarding which state would get it, what they would have to offer, and whether or not Tesla was using negotiations with individual states to get a better offer from other states. Eventually, Nevada was selected. There was then a bit of media ruckus over the incentive package Nevada offered Tesla. Without a doubt, it was a large one. However, the Gigafactory is also very large and Nevada is getting a lot from it. But then the media quieted down and it seemed like that was the end of things.
More recently, there have reportedly been more attacks on the deal and Tesla, with claims of connivery and such. Tesla decided it would have none of this. CEO, Chairman, and Chief Product Architect Elon Musk published an article about this on Tesla’s blog. The title, very cleverly, was “The House Always Wins.” The first three paragraphs are as follows:
There have been several articles recently implying that Tesla, through clever machinations, maneuvered Nevada into providing an overly large incentive package for the Gigafactory. I love backhanded compliments as much as the next person, but this is untrue.
Nevada is the entertainment capital of the world, home to the most sophisticated casinos on Earth. As everyone knows, the money to build those resorts arises because the casino houses generally tend not to lose. Even were they to lose, the state of Nevada, through the taxes it collects, would still win – it is the house to the house. They really know what they are doing.
Moreover, when the incentive proposal went to the Nevada legislature, it received approval from every member of the Senate and House with no dissenting votes. This includes every Republican and Democrat representative from every part of the state. Following passage of the bill, the debt ratings agency Moody’s assessed the deal as credit positive for both the Reno area and Nevada as a whole.
Brilliantly done.
Elon then goes into more details regarding the deal, what Nevada is getting out of it, what Tesla is actually getting, and more. He also discusses the company (i.e, his) strong focus on fairness, trust, and simply doing by people. Indeed, even a lay follower of the company should know very well that Tesla & Elon care a great deal about these things.
If you haven’t already done so, I recommend checking out the full article.