Musk defends relentless work hours
Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk, responding to Uber Technologies Inc board member Arianna Huffington urging him to change the way he works, ruled out taking a different approach.
An open letter from Huffington to Musk accused him of “demonstrating a wildly outdated, anti-scientific and horribly inefficient way of using human energy,” adding in a tweet that the Tesla founder should change the way he works.
It follows an interview with the New York Times last week, in which Musk said he sacrificed family milestones in the race to meet Tesla production targets.
Still, the Tesla CEO responded to the letter with a tweet in which he said that Ford Motor Co. and Tesla are the only two American car companies to avoid bankruptcy.
“I just got home from the factory,” Musk wrote at 2:32 a.m. Pacific time on Sunday. “You think this is an option. It is not.”
Dear Elon, please change the way you work to be more in line with the science around how humans are most effective: You need it, Tesla needs it and the world needs it. https://t.co/vy6hdnYKzt
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 17, 2018
Ford & Tesla are the only 2 American car companies to avoid bankruptcy. I just got home from the factory. You think this is an option. It is not.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2018
Tesla shares plunged 8.9% on Friday after the interview with the New York Times in which he described the past 12 months as “the most difficult and painful year of my career.” References to Ambien use and driving while tweeting are fueling calls for Tesla’s board to step up its oversight of the company’s CEO and largest shareholder.
Musk sparked controversy by tweeting on Aug. 7 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. He later said that meeting with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had given him confidence to announce the news. The company later received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the tweet.
Stock’s Gyrations
Tesla has marketed its top-of-the-line models that boast head-snapping acceleration as having “Insane” and “Ludicrous” modes. But features some consumers may want in an automobile aren’t necessarily sustainable in an automobile executive.
Tesla shares plummeted Friday by the most in two years, closing at $305.50, after the New York Times published an interview in which Musk described the past 12 months as “the most difficult and painful year of my career.” References to Ambien use and driving while tweeting are fueling calls for Tesla’s board to step up its oversight of the CEO, chairman and largest shareholder.
An open letter from Huffington, a board member at Uber Technologies Inc., to Musk accused him of “demonstrating a wildly outdated, anti-scientific and horribly inefficient way of using human energy.” She added in a tweet that the Tesla founder should change the way he works. In his interview with the Times, Musk said he sacrificed family milestones in the race to meet Tesla production targets.
Still, the Tesla CEO tweeted that Ford Motor Co. and Tesla are the only two American car companies to have avoided bankruptcy, and dismissed the idea that he was able to cut his workload.
Musk’s already chaotic world blew up again when he tweeted this month that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private.
He later said that meetings with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had given him confidence to announce the news. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission sent the company a subpoena regarding the statement.
Huffington’s attempted intervention comes at a time when she’s been campaigning in support of the benefits of sleep. Her description accompanying the open letter describes her as a “flat shoe advocate and sleep evangelist.”
Lucid Motors
It’s unlikely Musk has lost much sleep over concerns about Newark, California-based Lucid Motors, whose predecessor Atieva Inc. was founded in 2007 by Bernard Tse, a former Tesla executive and board member.
While its prototype Lucid Air sedan has been well-received, it’s unclear whether the company has the funding to get production going. Lucid’s website is taking refundable $2,500 deposits for the vehicles it plans to eventually sell.
Lucid first announced in November 2016 that it chose Arizona as the home for a $700 million manufacturing facility. But in April 2017, chief technology officer Peter Rawlinson said the company didn’t have the money in place to start construction and needed to complete a fourth round of fundraising, known as Series D.
In July 2017, Bloomberg News reported that Lucid had hired Morgan Stanley to raise more money and was considering an outright sale after exploring early-stage takeover talks with Ford Motor Co. Ford ultimately moved on.
Read: Musk tweet draws Tesla investor lawsuits over share price jump
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