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Tesla is the most valuable automaker in the world by a very wide margin.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Time magazine has published its list of 100 more influential companies recently. On the list:
Ford engine
and
Rivian Automotive
,
and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer
BYD
.
Not on the list:
You’re here
.
The snub was noticed by Tesla bulls (ticker: TSLA).
(FFND) portfolio manager Gary Black tweeted Wednesday night: “Very sus.” It’s short for suspect.
He has a point. Like it or not, Tesla is by far the most valuable automaker in the world. The company has entered the era of electric vehicles and its strategy has been either rented Where emulated by global automakers ranging from
volkswagen
(VOW3.Germany) to
General Engines
(GM).
All US companies that have reached market capitalizations of one trillion dollars are on the list:
Alphabet
(GOOGL), Amazon.co.uk (AZMN),
Metaplatforms
(FB),
Microsoft
(MSFT), and
Apple
(AAPL). Not Tesla, simply.
Still, Time seems to recognize the importance of the auto industry, with three automakers on the list. Cars, after all, generate trillions in annual economic activity while employing millions of people around the world. Vehicles matter too about 15% of all global carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere responsible for climate change.
About Ford, which the magazine lists in the Titans category, Time notes that the company is doing all it can to electrify its products. It’s true. Ford has announced billions in spending on electric vehicle assembly and battery capacity. The company plans to have enough capacity to manufacture two million electric vehicles by 2026.
BYD (1211.Hong Kong) isn’t a household name, but it’s one of the world’s five most valuable automakers, making cars, buses and batteries. Tesla actually appears in BYD’s description as a competitor in China.
BYD is in the Category Titans with Ford. Rivian (RIVN) is in the category of innovators. Time detailed Rivian’s struggles to ramp up production, which is likely the first thing investors watch in 2022. Rivian expects to make around 25,000 vehicles in 2022. At the start of the year, Wall Street was hoping for around 40,000. Rivian stock suffered from this disappointment. Heading into Thursday’s session, stocks are down about 50% year-to-date, much worse than the comparable 3% declines in both
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average,
and worse than the 4% year-to-date gain on Tesla stock.
Time, of course, has given Tesla considerable recognition recently. Elon Musk was his “Person of the Year” in 2021. Musk also appeared on Barrons list of best CEOs for two years. Barrons acknowledged his disruption in two businesses – cars and rockets. Musk also runs SpaceXthe company that pioneered reusable rockets and now owns about two-thirds of all satellites orbiting Earth.
SpaceX, in private markets, is valued at about 100 billion dollars. It’s bigger than Ford or Rivian, and about the same as the aerospace giant
Boeing
(BA).
SpaceX also didn’t make Time’s list. Axiom space did though. He is building a commercial space station. So done Astroscale. It is a company dedicated to cleaning up space waste.
In the end, lists exist in part to get people talking. This one certainly will be.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
