Elon Musk decries ‘fascist’ coronavirus stay-at-home orders putting Tesla’s hot streak at risk
- Tesla is worried about being able to resume production in the San Francisco Bay area, where authorities have extended a stay-home order to the end of May
- CEO Elon Musk, in an emotive Tesla earnings call, ranted against the orders and said they were ‘not democratic’
“This is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom,” the chief executive officer said after reporting Tesla’s first-ever profit to start a year. “Give people back their godd--- freedom.”
Investors shrugged off the outburst, with Tesla shares finishing the late trading session up 8.7 per cent. The company’s third straight quarterly profit and revenue of almost US$6 billion both beat analysts’ estimates, extending an advance for a stock that is already the biggest gainer on the Nasdaq 100 Stock Index this year.
“It was vintage Elon. I wish he hadn’t done it,” Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures, said by phone. “But most investors don’t care. It doesn’t change the reality, which is that Tesla is making meaningful progress toward being a major player in the auto industry.”
The stock surge Musk, 48, has engineered by producing and delivering more cars than expected early this year has positioned him to receive the first set of stock options from a pay package that set moon shot goals two years ago.