Elon Musk Begs Tesla Staff Not to Sell Their Stocks
Tesla's financial health isn't looking great lately, to put it mildly.
Earlier this week, four top senior executives at Tesla
dumped their stocks amidst an ongoing freefall caused by poor quarterly sales, tons of recalls, and global protests against CEO Elon Musk. Now, after the loss of some of his
highest-moneyed investors, Musk is pleading with Tesla employees not to do the same.
"There are times when there are rocky moments, a little bit of stormy weather, but I’m here to tell you the future is bright and exciting," the oligarch said during an
all-hands message with Tesla employees. "What I'm saying is — hang on to your stock."
In the past, Tesla has operated on a merit-based equity award plan, meaning salaried employees are often eligible to receive stocks as part of their yearly salary adjustments. That plan hit the rocks in 2023, when a
company-wide halt to equity awards was announced due to a "challenging economic environment."
That move was thanks to a
6 percent stock slidecaused by lower than expected — but
still positive — growth compared to the previous year. If that's a "challenging environment," then the past quarter's
50 percent freefall must be hell on earth for the EV company, which is now at risk of losing its once ironclad spot in the
magnificent seven.
Musk has
previously bragged that employee stock awards helped fend off unionization efforts in Tesla factories. Indeed, Tesla is currently the
only major American automakerwhose workforce isn't represented by a union. Musk's strategy has previously been to pay employees
much lower salaries than other American auto companies, offset with those Tesla stock awards.
Now that employee stock holdings are in the toilet, the leverage Musk once had over his laborers is quickly slipping through his fingers. The deeper Tesla's stocks plummet, the closer Musk pushes his underpaid workforce toward the bargaining table — which would be a
huge cut to his own personal fortune.
But that's something only Tesla's employees can decide. In the meantime, calls on Musk to step down as Tesla CEO are only getting louder.
"It's time for somebody to run Tesla," said
mega-investor Ross Gerber. "The business has been neglected for too long. There are too many important things Tesla is doing, so either Elon should come back to Tesla and be the CEO of Tesla and give up his other jobs, or he should focus on the government and keep doing what he is doing, but find a suitable CEO of Tesla."
