Tesla boss Elon Musk defends move to dodge analyst’s questions after brusque responses further share price falls
Tesla boss Elon Musk has defended his decision to dodge questions posed to him by analysts after revealing a record $710m (£523m) loss, after his firm’s share price appeared to suffer as a result.
More than $3.4bn was wiped off the value of the Californian car company after it posted results showing it had burned through $745m of cash reserves in pursuing its affordable electric car Model 3.
During an analyst call, in which Musk called Tesla “the best in a class of one,” the entrepreneur appeared to lose patience with some of the questions he was being asked.
“Next, next. Boring bonehead questions are not cool. Next,” he said at one point, cutting an analyst off.
In response to another question about the price point of the Model 3, Musk said: “We’re going to go to YouTube. Sorry, these questions are so dry, they’re killing me.”
Today he attempted to explain why he had done that. In a thread advertised as being of little interest “unless you’re interested in a tedious discussion about Tesla stock”, the inventor told his 21m followers that Tesla is the “most shorted stock on the market & has been for a while”.
He claimed the two questioners were sell-side analysts “who represent a short seller thesis, not investors”.
Musk later followed that up with a cryptic threat to short-sellers, saying: “Flamethrowers should arrive just in time.”
Oh and uh short burn of the century comin soon. Flamethrowers should arrive just in time.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 4, 2018