Tesla Inc and The Walt Disney Company have joined Apple Inc and dozens of other major U.S. firms with broad exposure in China in temporarily suspending their operations as the highly-contagious Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak rages on.
As of early Sunday morning, there have been 304 deaths (all in China) caused by the coronavirus and 14,893 confirmed cases. There are also 14 confirmed cases in Hong Kong and seven in Macau. Hubei province, the epicenter of the 2019-nCoV outbreak and Wuhan, reported 45 new deaths and 1,921 new confirmed cases as of Saturday evening.
The first 2019-nCoV case was reported in Wuhan in early December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on January 27 formally declared the pneumonia-like virus a global health emergency.
Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn on January 26 said Tesla expects "a one- to one-and-a-half-week delay in the ramp of Shanghai-built Model 3 due to a government-required factory shutdown" related to the coronavirus outbreak sweeping China.
"This may slightly impact profitability for the quarter, but is limited, as the profit contribution from Model 3 Shanghai remains in the early stages," he said. "We are also closely monitoring whether there will be interruptions in the supply chain for cars built in Fremont," but Tesla so far is not aware of anything material.
Kirkhorn said the shutdown might slightly impact profitability for the first quarter "but is limited as the profit contribution from Model 3 Shanghai remains in the early stages."
Apple has curbed employee travel in China and closed all of its corporate offices, stores and contact centers in mainland China until February 9. CEO Tim Cook said Apple has "some suppliers" in the Wuhan area, and at least some of its manufacturing facilities elsewhere in China will remain closed until February 10.
Microsoft Corporation said employees in China should work from home until Feb. 9. Amazon.con, Inc. has offices in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It announced curtailing business travel to and from China until further notice. The company also asks employees returning to the U.S. from one of the affected provinces in China to work from home for a 14 day period.
Google, Inc. announced a temporary closure of its China offices. It's also restricted employee travel within China. The shutdowns will also affect Google's offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Facebook last week restricted employee travel to and from China.
Foreign car companies are also slowing down operations. Last week, the General Motors Company said it's temporarily restricted travel to Wuhan, where it has a manufacturing base as part of a joint venture with China's SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd. Fiat Chrysler has forbidden travel to Wuhan and 10 other Chinese cities.
Ford Motor Company on January 31 said it extended the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday for two days until February 2, and has asked employees in China to work from home from Feb. 3 to 7. The company expects to resume normal operations on February 10. It's also suspended all business travel to Wuhan and requests employees that have traveled to China to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return.
Toyota Motor Corporation is keeping factories in China shut down until February 9. It doesn't anticipate any impact to U.S. consumers due to the coronavirus outbreak.
