[dragontamer]

I'm not actually keen on the details of the March 2019 bond. A lot of people seem to think its a mandatory conversion (ie: it ALWAYS turns into stock).

If its a mandatory convertible, then Tesla pays it off in shares proportional to the value assuming Tesla was $360ish in price. So you "can't lose", you'll get 33% more stocks if TSLA was only $270 to ensure the bond-holder doesn't lose money.

I haven't been able to verify the status of the March 2019 convertible however. But just note that mandatory convertible vs non-mandatory is a big detail.

[btilly]

I believe that they are not mandatory.

First because articles like http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-musk-convertible-bonds... indicate that they are not. And also because the potential dilution indicated in the Tesla statement that I linked to shows zero dilution if the stock prices is not sufficient for them to convert.

But realizing the huge financial consequences for the company of having the stock price high does shed light on why Elon is so eager to push his stock price up. He would much rather pay in stock than cash.

Incidentally the LA Times article indicates that there is a lot more debt than just the issues I listed. That's a list of all of Tesla's convertible debt. But not all of it is convertible...