Elon Musk is "pretty optimistic" that investors will approve Tesla Motors' acquisition of SolarCity Corp. He made a big push on Nov. 1 to investors, ahead of their pending vote on the deal.
According to BBC, Musk would be surprised if Tesla's $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity doesn't go through next month. Musk is the chairman of both companies.
Tesla's take over of SolarCity would expand the company's clean energy business. But some shareholders don't like the deal, saying that it would be a conflict to combine Musk's firms.
Musk also said that there are a few naysayers to Tesla's expansion into the energy business, including big hedge funds. He questioned these naysayers, though, on how good they have been at predicting Tesla outcome in the past.
"If they have a batting average of zero, you should really question whether their future predictions are going to be better," he said. Musk is he optimistic that the votes will go in favor of Tesla acquiring SolarCity.
"The early votes so far have been overwhelmingly in favor," Musk said. "I would find it quite strange if that didn't turn out to be the case."
The MarketWatch reports that Musk made a big sales pitch to his investors on Tuesday, November 1. This is to keep the heat on the investors before they make a vote on November 17.
SolarCity's CEO Lyndon Rive joined Musk during a 40-minute conference call. This was after Tesla posted a blog saying the deal will add $1 billion-plus in revenue to Tesla in 2017.
Tesla also projected the deal would add $500 million in cash to the company's balance sheet over the next 3 years. Tesla also said they'd have $150 million in cost savings within the first year from sales and marketing efficiencies.
When asked why Tesla and SolarCity needed to merge instead of just doing a joint venture, Musk said he doesn't think a joint venture will really work. "It would be a worse product, a worse experience for the end user," he said.
Musk's optimism that the deal to acquire SolarCity will push through can be seen in him appearing not to have a backup plan. In fact, Tesla has already formed a glass group and landed a big contract with Panasonic that is contingent on the deal pushing through.
