Is Elon Musk O.K.?
Over the weekend, billionaire multi-hyphenate Elon Musk made an April Fools’ Day joke that hit a little too close to home. “Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt,” he tweeted. “Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by “Teslaquilla’ bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks.” Given Tesla’s tumultuous stock price and questions about whether the electric-car company will reach production goals for its economy sedan, the Model 3, investors weren’t laughing. When markets opened on Monday, Tesla’s stock price tumbled 5.1 percent, closing at its lowest levels in more than a year.
The plummet, plus a series of recent mishaps—Tesla was forced to recall more than 120,000 Model S vehicles last week, is dealing with the fallout from a fatal crash involving its assisted-driving technology, and had its credit downgraded on the news of production lags—just may have pushed Musk to the brink. On Monday night, the billionaire revealed that he’s “back to sleeping at [the] factory” thanks to the Model 3 push (before the Model X launched, Musk camped out in a sleeping bag near the production line). “Car biz is hell,” he added.
Musk’s revelation came as part of a testy Twitter exchange with reporter Amir Efrati, who on Monday published a story, confirmed by Tesla, that claimed Musk himself was taking over Model 3 production duties, bumping engineering chief Doug Field, who had overseen production. “Can’t believe you’re even writing about this,” Musk shot back at Efrati. “My job as CEO is to focus on what’s most critical, which is currently Model 3 production. Doug, who I regard as one of the world’s most talented engineering execs, is focused on vehicle engineering.” Efrati then tweeted at Musk, asking him for an interview. “Uhh, hello, I need to build cars,” Musk replied. “Then why are you tweeting,” BuzzFeed News’s Ryan Mac shot back.
Though Musk’s Twitter presence has always been boisterous, his recent missives may be a sign that the stress is getting to him. Tesla is under enormous pressure from shareholders to build enough Model 3’s to both meet demand from customers and earn enough in revenue to help offset the billions spent preparing for Tesla’s Model 3 rollout. Tesla’s employees, too, are feeling the strain—last week, executives asked factory workers to contribute to the Model 3 push instead of focusing on their duties elsewhere. It would be an “incredible victory,” Field wrote in a memo obtained by Bloomberg, to reach Tesla’s production goal of assembling 2,500 Model 3 vehicles every week by the end of the fiscal quarter. “This is a critical moment in Tesla’s history, and there are a number of reasons it’s so important,” he wrote. “You should pick the one that hits you in the gut and makes you want to win.”
Both Musk and Tesla boast legions of loyal devotees, but all the fanboys in the world won’t make a difference if the company can’t hit its numbers. And even if it does, investors and analysts are beginning to wonder whether Tesla has enough momentum to continue to propel itself forward.
