The economist thinks the firm no longer keeps up with what CEO Elon Musk promises. Musk really wants Tesla to be a tech company, but it's an automaker, DeLong said. Advertisement"For all the current Tesla shareholders planning to offload their holdings in the next couple of years, everything hinges on the company succeeding as a meme stock, and Musk is diligently working toward that goal," DeLong argued. Last month, investor Roger McNamee warned that the stock would start trading like a car company if shareholders decided that Musk wasn't central to its narrative. In a similar vein, short-seller legend Jim Chanos called Tesla a "hopes and dreams" stock, trading more on Musk than fundamentals.

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Persons: J, Bradford DeLong, Elon Musk, Musk, Tesla, DeLong, —, Elon, Roger McNamee, Jim Chanos Organizations: Project Syndicate, Service, UC Berkeley, Street