Some innovative companies like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are heavily subsidized by government policy (either directly or through purchases made by their customers) while existing car companies are forced to comply with mandates to produce cars that people may not want at enormous cost. These companies rely heavily on continued financing (Tesla raised over $1 billion in equity and over $2.5 billion in debt over the past four years) and favorable capital market conditions and valuations while companies viewed through a more traditional lens, like Sears Holdings, are met with skepticism even though we have an enormous asset base and a proven history of monetizing these assets and raising additional capital to fund our obligations and transformation.
From Edward Lampert (Trades, Portfolio)'s 2015 annual letter for Sears Holdings.
