鈥淒o you think I鈥檓 insane?鈥�
That鈥檚 the first line in the first chapter in the bestselling biography of Elon Musk by author Ashley Vance. Musk had asked Vance the question over dinner.
Vance dodged the subject. But anyone monitoring Musk鈥檚 Twitter feed and other public behaviour lately might well wonder what鈥檚 got into the CEO of Tesla Inc.
At a crucial juncture for the company, which is struggling to show it can mass-produce an electric sedan and generate cash, Musk has tangled very publicly with U.S. government regulators, stock analysts, journalists, former employees 鈥� even the creator of a farting-unicorn coffee mug.
On Sunday morning, after a rescue diver took to CNN to criticize as a 鈥淧R stunt鈥� Musk鈥檚 offer of a small submarine to transport a Thai soccer team out of a flooded labyrinthine cave, Musk called the man a 鈥減edo鈥� on Twitter 鈥� short for pedophile.
Musk soon removed the tweet, but not until the unsubstantiated slur had ricocheted around the world. The diver told reporters he鈥檚 thinking about suing Musk.
Musk apologized for the tweet on Wednesday. Thus far, Tesla鈥檚 board of directors has been silent on the matter. But on Monday, Tesla鈥檚 stock fell 2.75 per cent, to $310.10 US. It is down 14 per cent since Musk announced on July 2 that Tesla had hit a goal of producing 5,000 Model 3s a week.
Gene Munster, an analyst with Loup Ventures, told the Washington Post the comments raised questions about Musk鈥檚 distractability and 鈥渕aturity.鈥�
鈥淭his crossed a line, and it needs to stop,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have such a great story to tell, and it鈥檚 getting lost in this noise.鈥�
Musk鈥檚 confrontations come as he continues to struggle to fix crippling production problems with the Model 3 electric sedan, which Musk regards as a 鈥渂et the company鈥� proposition.
The production goal Tesla hit this month lags far behind earlier benchmarks set by the company. In August 2017, Musk聽told stock analysts there should be 鈥渮ero concern鈥� the company would hit 10,000聽Model 3s a week by the end of this year. The calendar says that鈥檚 still possible, but he鈥檚 currently struggling to sustain the 5,000-a-week rate.
In an interview this month with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Musk was asked about his Tweetstorms, which the magazine showed were peaking in the spring as Tesla鈥檚 production woes increased.
鈥淚 have made the mistaken assumption 鈥� and I will attempt to be better at this 鈥� of thinking that because somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me, that it is open season,鈥� Musk said. 鈥淎nd that is my mistake. I will correct it.鈥�
Ten days later, he sent the pedophile tweet.
Musk was not available for comment. Here鈥檚 a look at some of his confrontations:
Regulators: According to the chairman of the government鈥檚 top transportation safety investigation agency, Musk hung up the phone on him during a conversation they had on April 11. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X in Mountain View, whose Autopilot function might have steered the car into a road barrier, smashing the front of the car and setting fire to its battery. The driver was killed.
The NTSB had asked Tesla not to make statements about the accident while it was being investigated. But the company posted an item on its blog that seemed to cast blame on the driver, Apple engineer Walter Huang. NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt was asking Musk about that on the call.
鈥淏est I remember, he hung up on us,鈥� Sumwalt told an audience at an air-safety conference later in April.
Tesla said it 鈥渨ithdrew鈥� from participating in the investigation. The NTSB disagreed, saying it removed Tesla.
Wall Street: On a May 2 earnings call, Musk cut off two Wall Street analysts who were trying to assess Tesla鈥檚 operational and financial performance.
After Tesla鈥檚 chief financial officer indicated capital spending would be cut, Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C.聽Bernstein, asked how that would affect Model 3 vehicle and battery production, and for a firm figure on capital spending.
Musk鈥檚 response: 鈥淏oring questions are not cool. Next!鈥�
That exchange was followed by a question from Joseph Spak of RBC Capital Markets. The company had said it held 420,000聽reservations from buyers for the Model 3. Spak wanted to know what percentage of reservation holders actually bought the car when they were invited to do so.
Musk鈥檚 response: 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to go to YouTube. Sorry. These questions are so dry. They鈥檙e killing me.鈥�
A potter: In late June, Musk engaged in a Twitter fight with a Colorado potter who noticed that Tesla was using as an icon on its vehicle operating system the image of a farting unicorn the artist had emblazoned on coffee mugs. When the potter鈥檚 daughter complained he hadn鈥檛 received permission or paid to use the image, Musk tweeted back that it would be lame of the family to file a lawsuit and that the potter should be happy with the attention he received. Musk stopped using the image.
Journalists: Musk aimed a barrage of incendiary tweets at Business Insider correspondent Linette Lopez on July 5. Two days earlier, quoting inside sources, Lopez had reported that Tesla stopped doing a brake test on the Model 3 assembly line as it rushed to meet its production goal.
Musk accused Lopez of bribing an ex-Tesla employee in exchange for proprietary information, and asked: 鈥淚s it possible you鈥檙e serving as an inside-trading source for one of Tesla鈥檚 biggest short sellers?鈥�
Musk named Martin Tripp as the ex-employee. Tesla had fired Tripp in June, accusing him of theft and sabotage, and of hacking into the company鈥檚 manufacturing computer system. Tesla then filed a lawsuit against Tripp.
Tripp in turn hired New York whistleblower attorney Stuart Meissner and filed fraud accusations against Tesla with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Tripp claims that Tesla lied to investors about the rate of Model 3 production and that the company knowingly installed dangerous batteries in Tesla cars. Tesla denies the accusations.
Lopez tweeted she did not bribe Tripp, and Tripp tweeted he had accepted no money from reporters.
A cave diver: As production challenges mounted at the Fremont factory, Musk dove headlong into a scheme to rescue 12聽members of a youth soccer team and their coach who were stuck kilometres inside a cave in Thailand.
Musk used SpaceX engineers and a swimming pool to devise a tube-shaped canister that he believed could be guided remotely through the labyrinth. He flew it to Thailand and showed up there himself. By then, however, the children were being successfully extracted by underwater divers who had meticulously plotted out their own rescue plan.
Musk was told he wasn鈥檛 needed. He headed to China to meet with officials about a new plant in Shanghai and left the submarine behind.
Several days later, British cave diver Vernon Unsworth appeared on CNN belittling Musk鈥檚 idea, saying: 鈥淗e can stick his submarine where it hurts.鈥� Another cave rescue official said the long, stiff submarine would be impractical given the sharp, narrow turns along the escape route.
On Sunday, Musk launched his 鈥減edo鈥� tweet. Challenged on Twitter for levelling an unsubstantiated charge, Musk responded: 鈥淏et ya a signed dollar it鈥檚 true.鈥�
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said if Unsworth does follow through with a lawsuit, Tesla鈥檚 board of directors should consider settling it out of court.
The situation is unusual if not unprecedented in the annals of business, he said.
鈥淚 think most CEOs try to keep a pretty low profile if they can,鈥� Tobias said. 鈥淏ut聽Musk has been very successful so far, so who鈥檚 going to challenge that? He鈥檚 certainly got all those Twitter followers, millions of people.鈥�
