Elon Musk sees no option but to keep working at his current relentless pace, no matter the deepening concerns of board members and investors about his health and stability as he propels Tesla Inc. toward a possible rebirth as a private company.
Only a few hours before sunrise in California on Sunday, Musk said he’d just gotten home from the electric-car factory where he has toiled— and often slept—for months to ramp up Model 3 sedan production. The chief executive officer rebutted a post from digital-media mogul Arianna Huffington, who had urged him to take time off lest he fall short of his ambitions to change the world. Sorry, Musk wrote around 2:30 a.m.: “It is not” an option.
The exchange underscores Musk’s determination to lead Tesla through the turmoil that accelerated after his Aug. 7 tweet suggesting he’d secured funding to take the firm private at $420 a share. Rather than soaring toward that value, the stock has since plummeted 20% as parts of Musk’s story unravel and pressure mounts on Tesla’s board for its handling of the iconic CEO. Nothing will get easier this week as he and Tesla’s board align with their separate sets of legal and financial advisers, all amid inquiries from U.S. securities regulators.
On Sunday, the picture became a little more complicated. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — the very investor that Musk described as a linchpin of his plan to take Tesla private — was reported by Reuters to consider buying a stake in another U.S. electric-car company. The Saudis’ Public Investment Fund, which recently bought an almost 5% holding in Tesla, was reported to be in talks for a separate $1 billion investment in Lucid Motors Inc. that would give the fund control of that fledgling automaker.
A Lucid spokeswoman declined to comment, and representatives for the Saudi fund couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the Reuters report, which cited people familiar with the talks without identifying them.
While Tesla and Lucid aren’t at all on the same level — Lucid has only shown electric-car prototypes, whereas Tesla produces thousands of cars a month — the prospect of controlling Lucid may have appeal to the Saudis. Part of their goal is to diversify away from the oil industry.
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.