Elon Musk Rallies Tesla Employees in Surprise Meeting, Urges Them to Hold Stock
Elon Musk stormed into Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory Thursday night, rallying employees during a surprise all-hands meeting as the company’s stock continued its brutal nosedive. After some technical hiccups with the X livestream, Musk kicked off the hour-long pep talk at 9:58 PM ET, determined to boost morale amid Tesla’s $700 billion market value wipeout. The last-minute Teams chat notification left many employees scrambling to attend.
The message was crystal clear: don’t panic about the stock. Tesla’s shares have plummeted over 40% this year, closing Thursday at $236 – a far cry from December’s peak of $479. That’s gotta hurt, especially for Musk, whose net worth has taken a $100 billion hit. But according to the Tesla chief, the future is “incredibly bright and exciting.” Recent vandalism at charging stations has added to the company’s challenges. The company’s flat structure promotes quick decision-making and direct communication between all levels of employees.
Despite Tesla’s stock nosedive and Musk’s $100B loss, the CEO remains unfazed, declaring the company’s future bright and promising.
Tesla’s actually got some impressive numbers to back up the optimism. The Model Y became the world’s best-selling car in 2023, moving 1.22 million units. The company’s work-related injury rates have shown significant improvement over the years. With an average salary of nearly $110,000, Tesla employees earn substantially more than their counterparts at other automakers. The company has cranked out over 7 million vehicles globally, and that fancy Cybertruck just earned a 5-star crash safety rating. Not too shabby for a company facing protests, vandalism, and falling sales across major markets.
Musk’s vision for the future sounds like something straight out of sci-fi. There’s the Cybercab, a steering wheel-free two-seater that apparently doesn’t need brakes (what could go wrong?). The Optimus humanoid robot will first grace Tesla employees with its presence, and new affordable EVs are slated for early 2025. They’re even cooking up robotaxi capabilities through software updates.
The challenges are real, though. Tesla’s dealing with new tariffs, record trade-ins from owners, and some raised eyebrows over Musk’s Trump connections. But according to Business Insider, Tesla remains a top workplace, and Musk made sure to hammer that point home.
He thanked the workforce for their dedication and pushed them to think outside the box – way outside. Tesla will apparently “do things no one has even dreamed of.” The meeting’s underlying message was clear: stick with Tesla, own the mission, and keep those performance standards sky-high.
For a company that’s seen better days in the market, Musk’s surprise rallying cry seemed to strike a balance between acknowledging the obvious pain points and painting a picture of an almost absurdly ambitious future.
Whether that future includes flying Teslas (yes, they’re actually considering eVTOL aircraft) remains to be seen.
