Tesla CEO Urges Employees To Cut Costs, Prove 'Naysayers' Wrong
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly urged employees to cut costs, as he tries to show the electric car maker has positive cash flow and raise funds.
According to Bloomberg, Musk told employees of the Palo Alto-based company in an email last week that the company is "on the razor's edge" to have a good third quarter. Musk urged the company to remove "any cost that isn't critical" and to deliver as many cars as possible for the next four and a half weeks.
"The third quarter will be our last chance to show investors that Tesla can be at least slightly positive cash flow and profitable before the Model 3 reaches full production," Musk said.
"It would be awesome to throw a pie in the face of all naysayers on Wall Street who keep insisting that Tesla will always be a money loser!" the CEO went on to say.
The CEO said the company needs to raise cash as it works on bringing a lower cost electric car to market before 2018 and as it builds the "Gigafactory" near Reno.
While working on the Model 3, Tesla is facing increased scrutiny from regulators and investors as it deals with issues over its "Autopilot" autonomous driving function and as the company tries to acquire solar panel maker SolarCity.
Last quarter, Tesla had a larger than expected loss of $293 million as it delivered fewer vehicles than planned.