Tesla, Inc. TSLA reduced the price of its full self-driving software, now marketed as FSD Supervised, over the weekend. Tesla investor Ross Gerber on Sunday weighed in on the merits of an outright purchase of the software suite versus a monthly subscription.
What Happened: The FSD Supervised is now available for $8,000, a significant reduction from the previous pricing of $12,000. Earlier this month, the company took down the monthly subscription pricing for the package from $199 to $99.
Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, weighed in on the current pricing of both options. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said, “$100 a month is $1200 a year. Over 5 years that's $6000.”
“Paying $8k for FSD is not a smart use of money. Pay monthly.”
Some of his social media followers did not deem it as sound advice. “C'mon Ross, it's not that simple. What if August 2024 it goes to $200? Then June 2025 it goes to $400?” one of them said.
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Why It’s Important: Gerber has recently turned highly critical of Tesla’s management and its strategies and he went to the extent of pointing fingers at Tesla CEO Elon Musk for its current fundamental woes. He also called for the disbanding of the Tesla board. This drew a sharp response from the billionaire.
Fund managers, including Gerber and Future Fund’s Gary Black, have all trimmed their positions in Tesla. The former’s flagship AdvisorShares Gerber Kawasaki ETF GK now owns merely 2,000 Tesla shares.
Tesla, for its part, has opted to prioritize its FSD, which most analysts think would fetch a high-margin recurring revenue stream and is also the core technology for the robotaxi service.
In premarket trading on Monday, Tesla shares fell 2.83% to $142.89, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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