Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to his employees last month addressing the issue regarding leaking internal memos to the press. The email did no good because soon after, one Tesla employee leaked that very email to the press. Knowing these tendencies, it seems Musk is using the press' knee-jerk reaction to his advantage.
Case in point, Musk also sent out an email wherein he congratulated his employees for nearly beating the production numbers for the Tesla Model 3. The email was leaked just in time when concerns for the Model 3 were all over the use and the demand took a nosedive. Naturally, that email somehow eased off some investors' concerns.
There's another email Musk just sent that managed fell into the hands of Bloomberg. In that email, the CEO once again mentioned the high demand for Model 3, but he went on to encourage his employees to work hard so they can "catch up" and produce more vehicles and meet that demand.
"While our demand is strong, we have a lot of vehicle deliveries to catch up to in order to have a successful quarter," Musk wrote in the mail. "Per my earlier email, if we execute well, Q2 will be an all-time record for Tesla vehicle deliveries and an awesome victory!!"
We can't just go and tell everybody that Musk is doing this email thing intentionally, although it's quite shady how his emails all contain positive production and delivery numbers. Anyhow, it sure is convenient, knowing full well he can bypass the scrutiny involved in delivering an official public statement. On the other hand, Musk has done shadier things in the past, so not many would argue it's outside the realm of possibility.
End-of-quarter rushes have become the norm at Tesla, as the company races to get cars into customers' driveways. In the first quarter, Tesla asked for employee volunteers to help with deliveries. The company cannot count a car as sold until the customer has received the vehicle.
Shares of Tesla rose out of the red after Bloomberg reports on Musk's email, going up about 1.2%. The stock is trading near $US190.
One thing we're sure of now though is, 2019 is almost halfway done, so Tesla's Q2 reports should appear soon and we'd all get a better idea if Musk's Tesla is indeed doing great. It's also possible he's doing this to encourage his employees to do their best, which is not entirely a bad thing.
