What's in a name? For Tesla, $75,000
Would a car by any other name be as innovative?
It depends how you pronounce it.
In his interview this week for 60 Minutes, Elon Musk told Lesley Stahl that he and the other founders of Tesla Motors (now named Tesla, Inc.) didn't initially own the company's name. Instead, Musk said, a man in Sacramento owned the rights to Tesla Motors, which was named after Nikola Tesla. Musk and the other cofounders had to buy the name—for $75,000.
But while Tesla the man is pronounced with an "s," Tesla the company is pronounced with a "z."
At least, that's what Elon Musk says in the video above.