Musk: Tesla Employees Should 'Ignore the Distractions'

Following his settlement with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Tesla CEO Elon Musk told company employees in emails to “ignore the distractions” and hinted that the company may soon be profitable. But despite his rosy outlook, problems persist.

Despite burning through approximately $3.48 billion over the course of a year, Elon Musk hinted that Tesla may soon be profitable in recent emails to employees. In the emails, Musk instructed employees to “ignore the distractions” and said that the electric-car manufacturer is close to “proving naysayers wrong,” something which Musk has appeared to become obsessed with doing in recent months.

The emails obtained by CNBC state:

Friday, September 28:

Ignore all distractions. One more hardcore weekend and we will all be victorious.

Thanks for being amazing.

Elon

 

Sunday, September 30:

We are very close to achieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong, but to be certain, we must execute really well tomorrow (Sunday).

If we go all out tomorrow, we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations.

Go Tesla!!

Thanks for all your hard work,

Elon

Sunday was a key production date for Tesla as the company plans to announce its third-quarter production numbers this week. Whether or not a large number of the cars produced will have to be sent back to the production line for reworking — as is seemingly common with Tesla’s cars — is unknown.

Recent drone photos of Tesla’s production plant in Fremont, California, also paint a worrying picture of how the company operates. Drone photos from the factory appear to show cars being painted outside — which may be illegal in the state — cars left uncovered outside in what is beginning to look like a junkyard, trash bags dumped on the ground, and metal Tesla car frames exposed to the elements.

Following Musk’s recent settlement in which the SEC which made both Musk and Tesla pay a $20 million fine and forced Musk to step down as chairman of the board, Tesla stock value has increased to $306.01 a share.