No Tesla Motors IPO Before Late 2010

Photo: Michael Graham RichardWill Depend On Market ConditionsTesla probably doesn't have an urgent need to raise money from the markets - they were profitable in July, got some money from Daimler, and won some low interest loans from the DOE - but making electric cars is a capital-intensive business, and with the Model S electric sedan still a couple years from being on the market, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra cash cushion.Via Reuters we learn that an IPO from Tesla won't come before the end of 2010 "if the market stays the way it is today."

Stephan Dolezalek, managing director of VantagePoint Venture Partners, an investor in Tesla, said that "Most of us have a longer term view. The IPO is a financing event, it's not an exit. We easily see [Tesla Motors] as being $5 billion to $10 billion."

So if you want to own a piece of Tesla, you'll have to be patient a little while longer.

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