Elon Musk Follows Through With Candy Challenge From Warren Buffett — Kinda
It’s a sweet distraction from other Boring challenges.
When Elon Musk first tweeted, “I’m starting a candy company & it’s going to be amazing,” few people believed he was serious. Not even his follow-up tweet that promised he was “ super, super serious” was enough to suggest that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO would take the joke this far. But then Musk published a first look at Boring Candy.
On Thursday, Musk posted a photo on his personal Instagram page of what appears to be a box of peanut brittle bearing his portrait and the Boring Company branding. This supposed prototype of the Boring Candy looks a lot like See’s Candy, the company bought by business magnate and Musk rival Warren Buffett.
The tension between Musk and Buffett first began during a particularly strange Tesla earnings call on May 1, when Musk called Buffett’s use of strategic moats a “lame” practice. Buffett responded directly to Musk’s point at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting three days later, saying that “Elon may turn things upside down in some areas. I don’t think he’d want to take us on in candy.” It was that night that Musk took to Twitter to announce his plans to start a candy company.
Musk has given fans a glimpse of what could be a Boring Candy prototype or just the final say in a month-long argument with Buffett. Although the Boring Company seems to be catch-all for Musk’s unusual ideas, from peanut brittle to the $500 “not-a-flamethrower,” its greatest challenge is currently securing a test track to prototype the Hyperloop, and the Boring Candy announcement may have been Musk’s way of distracting from the current lawsuits and regulatory hurdles that are slowing down his plans for the Hyperloop.
The Boring Company secured a partnership with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority after proposing a site for the test loop, which runs 2.7 miles along Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles. However, on Tuesday, two organizations have filed a joint lawsuit alleging that the local government violated state law when it exempted the Boring Company’s 2.7-mile tunnel from an environmental safety review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Boring Candy will have to taste exceptionally delicious to distract investors from the ongoing lawsuit, regulatory hurdles, and additional spending required before Musk can start digging in Los Angeles.
