Tesla

Main Article: Electric Vehicles (Global Market)

Financial performance

Main article: Tesla's financial performance

Sales, market shares in different countries, company financials, charts and maps.

History

2024

Ownership of bitcoins for $770 million

In mid-October 2024, Tesla transferred 11,509 bitcoins worth about $770 million to new addresses owned by the automaker. This is the first transaction with the company's bitcoins in the past two years, when Tesla reported revenues for the second quarter of 2022, saying that it "converted 75% of all" bitcoins with money. Tesla is supposed to be one of the largest stocks bitcoin among public companies after, as well as MicroStrategy mining MARA (formerly known as Marathon Digital) and Riot.

Higher car prices in Europe after tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from China

In July 2024, Tesla raised prices for its Model 3 cars in European countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Spain by about $1,622 after the EU imposed tariffs on electric cars made in China.

Tesla will pay Musk $56 billion so that he does not leave the company

On June 10, 2024, Tesla announced its intention to pay its CEO Elon Musk $56 billion. This amount, provided for in the remuneration package, is intended to ensure Musk's long-term commitment to the company and prevent his possible departure. Read more here.

Strikes against deforestation to boost German production

In May 2024, Tesla faced fresh protests at its factory in Germany, where activists are trying to halt an expansion of the electric car maker's production capacity that would require cutting down some of the surrounding forest.

Dissolution of the marketing department after the failure of TV advertising

On April 22, 2024, it became known that Tesla had completely liquidated the marketing department in the United States - all of its employees were fired. The reason for this decision was the failed advertising of electric vehicles on television.

Tesla has long avoided advertising on television, radio, the Internet and in print media. The promotion of the company's products was facilitated by word of mouth and posts by founder Elon Musk on social network X (formerly Twitter), where he has more than 181.5 million subscribers. However, under pressure from investors urging Tesla to pay more attention to marketing initiatives, Musk decided in 2023 to "try some advertising."

Tesla completely liquidated the marketing department in the United States

The formation of Tesla's marketing department in the United States began in late 2023 - early 2024. The team was led by senior manager Alex Ingram, and the total staff of this unit was about 40 employees. However, promotional material created by the department did not satisfy Musk, and it was decided to dissolve the entire team, including Ingram.

The ad turned out to be too generalized. Any car can fit the proposed description, "Musk wrote, commenting on the abolition of the marketing group.

It is noted that Tesla has a small number of marketing employees in Europe as of April 2024. The layoffs are part of Tesla's massive business optimization and cost-cutting initiative. The cuts affected many divisions: in some of them the number of personnel was reduced by 10%, in others - by 20%. It is also noted that Tesla's electric vehicle shipments fell 8.5% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, as Musk's company faces increasing pressure from Chinese competitors.^[1]

Reduction of more than 10% of employees or 14-20 thousand people

On April 15, 2024, it became known that Tesla will lay off more than 10% of employees around the world, cut 14,000 jobs, as Elon Musk proposes to make the company "thrifty, innovative and hungry."

"There is nothing more hateful for me, but this must be done," the letter from the head of Tesla sent to the company's employees says.

On April 23, 2024, it was announced that Tesla would cut 2,688 positions in as part of global Texas staff cuts.

The actual number of people laid off could exceed 20,000, according to people familiar with the company's plans, Bloomberg wrote.

Elon Musk more than 1.5 times increased share in Tesla

In February 2024, it became known that Tesla founder Elon Musk increased his stake in the company by more than one and a half times - to 20.5%. The billionaire owns 411.06 million ordinary shares of the electric car manufacturer, as well as options for the purchase of 303.96 million shares.^[2]

2023

Increase in the number of employees to 140 thousand people

Tesla's Shanghai plant leads in production

Recall of 55,000 defective electric vehicles due to brake problems

On October 11, 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration USA (NHTSA) announced that the company is Tesla recalling approximately 55 thousand defective electric vehicles Model X. These crossovers have a problem with the braking system. More. here

41% decline in average price of used Tesla cars

The average price of a used Tesla car has been declining for 15 months in a row: from a record high of $67,900 in July 2022 to a record low of $39,943 in October (-41%).

Fainting from dehydration and sleeping on the floor. Tesla workers reveal what's going on at factories

In mid-August 2023, it became known about how tough and unsafe conditions Tesla factory workers are forced to work. People complain about excessive hours, fines, scandals and harassment.

According to The Verge, referring to information received from Huibert Mees, chief suspension engineer for Model S, who has worked at Tesla for more than five years, people are forced to work at Elon Musk's enterprises for 10-12 hours a day. Mies admits that Tesla most likely would not have survived if it had not been for such an aggressive campaign to organize labor. But for many employees, such policies border on abuse and violation of human rights.

Tesla employees were said to have slept on the floor after a 12-hour shift. Workers lost consciousness from dehydration. One man's leg was crushed by a car coming from the assembly line. There were fires and a sewer pipe burst, which forced the plant workers to urgently leave the production site, making their way through the waste.

Part of such incidents is force majeure. However, the investigation found that Tesla's Fremont plant California had three times as many safety violations as the 10 other car plants combined USA. Injuries turned out to be more than the national average, and less time was given to training safety officers. In addition, it turned out that Tesla repeatedly misclassified and misrepresented injury data at its California and Nevada facilities.

There have also been allegations of racist and sexist abuse against Elon Musk's company. However, Tesla itself denies such claims, despite the initiated litigation.^[3]

Forced price cuts in Germany

Tesla Inc. in May 2023 increased discounts for business customers in Germany in a sign of the electric car maker's increasingly aggressive pricing tactics.

For dollars fleet buyers, the company is now offering an additional discount of €2,250 (2,447), a spokesman said. The incentive will be in place for all upcoming orders for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles delivered before the end of August.

Defective electric vehicle recall due to crumbling suspension

At the end of March 2023, Tesla initiated another program to recall its electric vehicles. This time, the action affects certain instances of Model 3 that have identified suspension problems. Read more here.

Forced price cuts due to low demand for company cars in the United States

Tesla Inc. in April 2023 cut Model S and X prices in the United States for the third time in a year in an attempt to sustain falling demand for its electric vehicles.

The decline comes amid the auto industry's struggles with rising inflation and rising interest rates that are making buying new cars increasingly expensive.

The Model S now starts at $84,990 after a $5,000 cut. The company has reduced prices for the entire lineup by between $1,000 and $5,000.

Mass sacking of employees over their desire to form a union

On February 5, 2023, it became known that Tesla fired 4% of employees of the Autopilot Marking Group in Buffalo, who the day before announced their intention to create a union.

The authors of the appeal to the National Labor Relations Administration (NLRB) USA claim that Tesla illegally fired some employees "in connection with their union activities," and to stop the movement. They asked the authorities to prevent the irreparable destruction of the rights of employees of a major automaker. As one example, employees indicated that plant management checks how many times an employee presses PC keys to calculate the time they spend performing work tasks. Due to such requirements for Tesla employees, some have to limit themselves to going to the toilet.

In total, more than 30 people lost their jobs at Tesla. Other employees of the enterprise received a letter with an updated company policy. It, in particular, prohibited the recording of work meetings without the permission of all participants in the meeting.

On February 13, 2023, Tesla workers in New York City announced that they would be merging into the Workers United Upstate New York union, helping them gain a say in their workplace. The union believes that the layoffs held on February 14 were to intimidate the rest and get rid of activists. A representative of the NLRB department confirmed the filing of the complaint and announced that it was under consideration as of February 17.

Tesla reported that employees who fell under dismissal were determined on February 3, that is, before the Workers United Upstate New York union campaign was announced on February 13, 2023. The company added that since August 2022, the number of employees of the autopilot labeling department has grown by 54% and as of February 17, 2023 amounted to 675 people against 437 in 2022.^[4]

Lower car prices due to weak demand

In January 2023, Tesla slashes electric car prices in Europe and the United States to bolster demand for its electric vehicles amid an economic downturn and tougher competition from established brands.

Prices fell to their lowest level in 2 years in response to lower supply chain costs. In the US, Tesla slashed prices for the entire range by up to $13,000, reducing the cost of some models by a fifth.

In Britain, prices for the Model 3 and Model Y - the two most affordable cars in the range - dropped by £3,500 to £8,000 overnight, according to industry figures and prices listed on Tesla's website.

Chinese Tom Zhu becomes the second person in the company after Elon Musk

The head of Tesla's China division, Tom Zhu, was promoted in January 2023 to take direct control of the electric car maker's assembly plants in, USA as well as sales in and, according to an internal document on the order of submission North America. To Europe

The move makes Zhu the most senior Tesla executive since CEO Elon Musk, who directly oversees deliveries in all major markets and the operation of key production centers.

Zhu's accountability would separate the design and development of Tesla vehicles - both areas in which Musk has been heavily involved - while simultaneously creating a clear deputy for Musk in the shorter-term challenges of managing global sales and manufacturing.

2022

Elon Musk sold 22 million shares of the company for $3.58 billion

Elon Musk sold $3.58 billion in Tesla Inc shares between December 12 and 14, 2022, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In total, during this period, he sold 22 million shares of the company, cites data from MarketWatch documents.

Robots at Tesla factories carry out explosions and 'try' to kill workers

In 2022, one in every 21 workers at Tesla's Gigafactory facility in Austin suffered some degree of injury. Incidents regularly occur at the plant that threaten the health and lives of employees, according to a report published on November 21, 2023.

Incidents at Tesla's Gigafactory facility are contained in documents the automaker provides to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration USA (OSHA). One of the tragic cases occurred in 2021: a worker approached the manipulator, which, presumably, was disconnected, but robot grabbed the employee and pressed him against the wall. Other shop workers promptly pressed the emergency shutdown button, but the victim received injuries to his back and hands.

Several more incidents occurred in August 2022. So, the worker's ankle fell under the cart, as a result of which he remained disabled for 127 days. Soon after, another worker suffered a head injury, which caused him to lose his ability to work for 85 days.

At least one worker suffered a concussion after being pushed backwards by an explosion at a metal casting site just before the 2023 offensive. The explosion was allegedly triggered by water accidentally entering a molten aluminum pressing unit. Witnesses say that a ball of fire and smoke rose into the air, and the mold was damaged.

In June 2023, contractors who installed a metal lattice for overhead crossings at the plant fell to the ground due to the lack of the necessary protective equipment. Part of the metal structures collapsed on them, because of which several people received fractures, and one - a puncture of the lung. The company also recorded cases of falling air ducts of air conditioning systems, steel beams and other construction structures.^[5]

Recall of tens of thousands of cars due to steering defects

On November 8, 2022, it became known about the next major recall of Tesla electric vehicles. This time, the service campaign touched on Model S sedans and Model X crossovers launched from 2017 to 2021. The power steering may stop working in them when driving on rough roads or after hitting a pothole. Read more here.

Recall of another 1.1 million defective cars due to clinging windows

On September 22, 2022, it became known that Tesla was recalling almost 1.1 million cars in the United States after the company discovered a defect that could cause windows to pinch a person's fingers when closed. Read more here.

Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin for $936 million

In July 2022, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin for $936 million.

Autopilot developers fired that killed hundreds

At the end of June 2022, it became known that Tesla was closing its office in San Mateo and cutting about 200 jobs among developers of automatic vehicle control technologies.

At the San Mateo facility, hundreds of employees were labeling car footage for Tesla to improve a driver assistance system called Autopilot. Two employees impacted by the layoffs told CNBC they knew Tesla's lease was coming to an end. The workers asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak on the subject.

Tesla, which has yet to deliver on its promise of robotic taxi technology, previously moved a number of autopilot data employees to its Palo Alto office. The company also hired and trained data annotation teams in Buffalo. Some employees at the San Mateo office trained teams in Buffalo, employees said.

The typical job of annotating data at Tesla is to identify and describe objects in short clips captured by cameras and sensors on Tesla cars. Sometimes, data labellers need to identify overlapping objects, such as a wheel in front of the curb or a pedestrian blocking a full view of the sign. They are evaluated by the number of videos that they can accurately annotate in a short period of time. Most developers of driver assistance and automated driving systems hand over at least some of the data labeling work to companies such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk, Cloudfactory, Hive AI and Appen.

One employee told CNBC that most of the employees in San Mateo expected to be moved to Palo Alto or another office and not lose their CNBC. Staff who attended the meeting were told they would receive full pay over the next 60 days, but June 28 would be their last working day. They were asked to leave their laptops and badges immediately at workplaces and told that emails with information about severance pay and benefits would be in their inbox. Severance benefits are expected to include compensation based on company experience and an additional two months of benefits, which will last until October 31, 2022.

Earlier it was reported that from the beginning of 2021 to June 2022 in the United States there were 273 accidents involving Tesla electric vehicles, which at the time of the accident were moving in autopilot mode. Most of the accidents ended in deaths.^[6]

Reduction of 10% of the state

In mid-June 2022, Tesla began downsizing two weeks after the company's CEO Elon Musk announced plans to lay off 10% of employees because he has a "very bad feeling" about the economy.

Reports social networks LinkedIn in demonstrate that Tesla has begun to reduce its staff, which at the end of 2021 was 100 thousand people, according to a statement (Securities and Exchange Commission SEC). By June 15, 2022, 11 LinkedIn notices had been posted from Tesla employees who reported that they had been fired as part of the cut.

Messages on LinkedIn were published from various employees of the company, including the head of the CGI animation department, instructors and the regional manager of one of the warehouses. Tesla employees who published messages, as it turned out, have different experience in the company. The head of the CGI animation department noted in his message that he worked at the company for six and a half years.

The cuts also affected other senior positions. Christopher Busiges, Tesla's manager in Singapore, said he was also fired as part of the downsizing. The company also canceled three hiring events in China scheduled for June 2022.

After announcing a 10% cut in full-time employees, Musk stumped to say the total number of employees would grow and the number of full-time employees would "stay the same." Musk also noted that, in his opinion, the United States expects a recession. He introduced a policy that obliges Tesla employees to stay in the office for at least 40 hours a week.

Tesla isn't the only company to start downsizing. Netflix announced in May 2022 the reduction of about 150 employees. Large companies, including, and Amazon Meta , Microsoft have slowed or suspended hiring. Tesla did not provide separate comments on the situation.^[7]

Recall of 107 thousand defective cars due to charging problems

In mid-May 2022, Tesla initiated the recall of more than 107 thousand cars produced at the Gigafactory plant in Shanghai from October 19, 2021 to April 26, 2022. The service campaign is being conducted due to technical problems that pose a security risk. Read more here.

Recall of 48 thousand defective cars

In early May 2022, Tesla announced a recall of 48,184 vehicles, this time due to a problem displaying dashboard speed on some models, such as the 2018-2022 Model 3 Performance. Affected vehicles are expected to be fixed with an over-the-air software update. Read more here.

Opening of an electric vehicle factory in Germany

The American company Tesla plans to start production of electric vehicles in Germany. This became known on March 5, 2022. German authorities approved the opening of the plant.

Electric cars will be produced near Berlin. The plant's capacity will allow the company to produce 500 thousand electric vehicles per year. It is clarified that at first it is planned to produce Model Y crossovers at the plant.

As the head of Tesla Elon Musk specified, the plant in Germany will cover the share of the European market^[8] OF ^[9].

On March 22, Tesla officially opened its factory near Berlin, handing over the first 30 Model Y to customers in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Chief executive Elon Musk made good on his promise to dance, as he did when Tesla opened its Shanghai factory two years ago.

Tesla shares rose for the sixth day in a row, rising 6.8% to $984, and the company's market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion.

Tesla's Grunheid plant is needed by Musk to take over Europe's growing electric vehicle market. He tweeted that he was working on a new "master plan" for the automaker, and on Monday wrote that "scaling to extreme sizes" would be a major theme.

Tesla bought a section of railway in Germany to carry employees of Giga Berlin

On January 31, 2022, it became known that Tesla bought an existing railway line in one of the suburbs of Germany, along which it plans to run a shuttle train to the Giga Berlin plant. Read more here.

Tesla pledges to acquire 75,000 metric tons of nickel concentrates from Talon Metals

In January 2022, Tesla Inc. agreed to purchase nickel from the mining company Talon Metals Corp. due to the expected growth in demand, which spurs automakers to provide access to metals for batteries and other parts of electric vehicles.

Tesla has pledged to purchase 75,000 metric tons of nickel concentrates produced at Talon's Tamarack project, with the price pegged to the price of cash per nickel on the London Metal Exchange.

The Tamarack project, a joint venture between Talon and Rio Tinto Group for the extraction of nickel, copper and cobalt, is located in Minnesota (USA) and is not yet in commercial production.

2021

Industrial robot attacked engineer at Tesla plant

In late December 2023, it became known that at a Tesla gigafactory Texas in near Austin, one of the engineers was attacked by an industrial one. robot The man suffered serious injuries, including an open wound to his left arm.

The incident is reported in a Tesla report that the company referred to Texas' Travis County and federal regulators. It is known that the accident occurred in 2021. A specialist who programmed two disabled robots was attacked by a machine designed to move newly cast aluminum car parts.

It is said that two employees of the enterprise "watched in horror as their colleague, a Tesla employee, saved an engineer from a robot attack": the car plunged "metal claws" into the back and arm of a specialist. A nearby employee pressed the emergency shutdown button of the automated manipulator, after which a bloody man fell into a trough approximately 60 cm deep, designed to collect aluminum scrap.

Attorney Hannah Alexander of the nonprofit Workers Defense Project says accidents at Tesla facilities are under-reported. This is indicated by the information that Alexander received from the company's employees. It is alleged, in particular, that one of the employees died of heatstroke at the stage of construction of the plant, but this is not reported in the official documentation. In addition, many other Tesla workers suffered injuries that were also not recorded in the reports. The lawyer believes that the electric car manufacturer is hiding the real number of incidents on its sites in order to receive tax breaks. Other violations are also mentioned: for example, some Tesla employees start work without completing the necessary training.^[10]

Loss of $101 million due to the fall of bitcoin

Tesla in 2021 lost $101 million due to the fall of Bitcoin. As of December 31, 2021, the company's fair estimate of BTC on the balance sheet was $1.99 billion.

Moving Tesla headquarters from California to Texas

On September 30, 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the transfer of headquarters from California to Texas. He announced this at the annual meeting of shareholders, which was held at the plant under construction.

For Oct. 8, 2021, the electric vehicle company is based in Palo Alto, Calif., near its original San Carlos headquarters and first Fremont plant. Elon Musk said there is a limit to how big you can develop in the Bay Area.

Musk cited housing affordability and long commutes as major concerns for the company's current location, and noted that the Austin plant is five minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from downtown. According to Realtor, the median price of a house in Palo Alto is $3.3 million, while the cost of a house in Austin is $588,000.

Elon Musk himself said in December 2020 that he had moved to Texas, and one of his other companies was SpaceX developing a massive rocket system known as Starship in South Texas. Despite the move, Musk said Tesla plans to continue to expand significantly in California. He added that the company intends to increase production at its Fremont and Nevada plants by 50%.

Back in May 2020, Elon Musk announced in one of the social networks that Tesla would move its headquarters to Texas or Nevada. It comes after a dispute between Musk and Alameda County authorities over the safety of Tesla's Fremont plant over the coronavirus pandemic.

Once completed, the Austin plant will need some time to reach full capacity. Construction will take less time than reaching large production volumes on it, for example, the Shanghai plant was built in 11 months, but impressive production volumes were achieved in only 1 year. Tesla's CEO expects the Austin facility to follow Shanghai's lead.^[11]

Payment of $137 million compensation for ignoring racial slurs against black employee

On October 4, 2021, a federal jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla to pay almost $137 million to black elevator operator Owen Diaz, who accused the Tesla automaker of ignoring the racial slurs he faced during his work at the plant. Read more here.

Launch of a data center in China

At the end of September 2021, the American car manufacturer Tesla launched a data center in China to localize all data obtained from the company's activities in this country, including production, sales, maintenance and charging. This happened after the media reported on recommendations to Chinese officials not to buy Tesla cars due to the possible sending of data about them to the United States.

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk noted, all personally identifiable information is securely stored in China and is not transmitted abroad. Only in very rare cases, for example, when ordering spare parts from abroad, data is allowed to be transferred abroad.

Also at the summit, which was held in China under the name World Internet Conference Wuzhen 2021, Elon Musk added information that data security is the key to success, both smart and other connected vehicles. Information is not only closely related to the interests of individuals, but also matters to the entire society of the country as a whole. Tesla is working with China's regulators to find the best data security solution for its citizens.

In 2019, Tesla built its first Gigafactory plant in Shanghai, it was its first plant outside the United States with a design annual production capacity of 500 thousand units. It is expected that by the end of 2021 the level of localization at the plant will be about 90%.

Tesla sells one of every four of its vehicles in China and has invested in a fully owned factory in Shanghai that has allowed the company to quickly become a leader in China's huge electric vehicle market. Chinese authorities in March 2021 restricted the use of Tesla cars by the military and employees of state-owned companies over concerns that images from cameras on vehicles could be transferred to the United States, fueling fears of espionage.

Tesla announced on the social network Weibo that it will store all data received from cars sold in China in the country. The company produces Model 3 sedans and Model Y sports SUVs in the PRC^[12] sets^[13]

Black ex-Tesla employee received $1 million from the company for leadership racism

In early August 2021, it became known that Tesla was ordered to pay about $1 million to a former employee who filed a lawsuit, claiming that he was called the N word while working at an electric car manufacturer in California. Read more here.

Panasonic sold its entire stake in Tesla for $3.6 billion

On June 25, 2021, Panasonic announced the sale of its entire stake in Tesla. The Japanese corporation withdrew from the share capital of the American automaker during the fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 2021.

According to Reuters, citing a Panasonic statement, the company raised about 400 billion yen ($3.61 billion) from the sale of Tesla shares, while in 2010 it bought them in the amount of 1.4 million units for $21.15 (less than $30 million for the entire package). By June 25, 2021, the Tesla quotation rate is $679.82, in 12 months the company's securities have risen in price more than six times.

The Nikkei edition writes that a one-time profit from the exit from Tesla's capital corresponds to most of the proceeds of 429.9 billion yen from the return on investment and sale of assets in which the company had previously invested. This figure is given in the statements for the last fiscal year (closed in March 2021), and at the end of the previous year it was about the amount of 49.13 billion yen.

The main reason for the sale of Tesla shares is Panasonic's desire to increase its profits and raise the funds necessary to invest in other companies. Panasonic is a supplier of batteries for Tesla's electric cars, the Nikkei said, and cooperation between the companies will not be affected after the sale of a stake in the US company.

The Financial Times writes that Panasonic announced the sale of a stake in Tesla after repeatedly making it clear its desire to reduce dependence on an American partner and supply batteries to other electric car manufacturers.

The goal is to analyze strategically important stocks in accordance with corporate governance guidelines, Panasonic said in a statement on Tesla's capital exit.[14]

Russian received a prison sentence in the United States for trying to hack Tesla computers

At the end of May 2021, a Nevada court sentenced Yegor Kryuchkov to 10 months in prison for trying to organize a cyber attack on Tesla. Also, the Russian will have to compensate for the costs of an internal investigation in the amount of $14,825. Read more here.

Start of car sales for Bitcoin

March 23, 2021 Elon Musk announced the start of sales of Tesla cars for Bitcoin.

While this payment method is available only for customers from the United States, in other countries it will be introduced later this year.

"You can now buy Tesla for Bitcoin. Bitcoin paid by Tesla will be saved, not converted into fiat currency, "Musk wrote.

After the announcement of the company, the Bitcoin rate began to grow sharply. Cryptocurrency at the moment rose in price to $55.6 thousand.

Russian pleaded guilty to cyber attack on Tesla plant

On March 18, 2021, the Nevada federal prosecutor's office issued a statement according to which Yegor Kryuchkov pleaded guilty to a hacker attack on Tesla's IT systems. Read more here.

India Affordable Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Agreement

In February 2021, Tesla Inc. enters into an agreement on the production of electric vehicles in India, opening up new opportunities for growth after founder Elon Musk established production in the United States and China.

Tesla chose Karnataka, the southern state whose capital is Bengaluru, for its first factory.

Bangalore was chosen because it forms as a hub for electric vehicle and aerospace industry professionals. The company merged its Indian division and registered offices in central Bangalore.

Tesla plans to launch an affordable electric car in India specifically designed for emerging markets and hopes to make the most of the electric vehicle market that is only being created in India.

Buying Bitcoin for $1.5 billion

"We also expect that in the near future we will begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for our products, in accordance with applicable law and initially on a limited basis," based on information in SEC documents.

Tesla may invest some cash in some alternative reserve assets, including digital assets and gold.

2020

Musk tried to sell Tesla to Apple for $60 billion, but Tim Cook refused to even negotiate

On December 22, 2020, the founder and CEO of Tesla Elon Musk spoke about an unsuccessful attempt to sell the company to a consumer manufacturer. electronic engineers Apple

In the most difficult days during the development of our Model 3 program, I turned to Tim Cook with a proposal to discuss the possibility of Apple buying Tesla (for one tenth of our current value), but he refused to meet, Musk wrote on his Twitter blog.

Neither the entrepreneur himself nor Tesla representatives have specified what period of time is in question. Apple declined to comment on Musk's confession at the request of Western media.

By the close of exchanges Nasdaq on December 22, 2020, Tesla's market capitalization amounted to about $607 billion. Taking into account this figure and Musk's statement, it can be assumed that the businessman wanted to sell the company for about $60 billion.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares have risen more than sixfold in value from early 2020 through Dec. 22, and the company is now worth not only more than any other avtoproizvo­ditelya, but more than Toyota, GM, Ford and Volkswagen combined. Sootvet­stvenno, uveli­chilos and blago­sostoyaniye of Musk himself, whom Forbes magazine by December 22, 2020 calls the second largest fortune in the world.

Rumors about a possible collaboration between Apple and Tesla have repeatedly arisen in a press release. During a meeting of Apple shareholders, one of the investors told Cook that he would like the company to acquire Tesla, everyone laughed, The Wall Street Journal wrote earlier.

Musk's post about trying to sell Tesla, released on Dec. 22, 2020, came in response to one of the posts in. Its Twitter author cited material Reuters that reported that Apple allegedly plans to release under electric vehicle its brand in 2024 and is developing revolutionary automotive battery technology. According to the agency, the technology will reduce the cost of the electric motor and increase the travel range without recharging.^[15]

Ex-Tesla employee will pay the company $400 thousand for disclosing secrets about the development of electric vehicles

At the end of November 2020, it became known that ex-Tesla employee Martin Tripp would pay the company $400 thousand in a lawsuit to disclose trade secrets, violation of contractual obligations and false statements in the media. Read more here.

Refusal to include the company's shares in the S&P 500

In September 2020, the S&P Dow Jones Indices committee refused to include Tesla shares in the S&P 500. This decision was made despite the automaker fulfilling the last criterion for getting into the index - Tesla showed profit for four quarters in a row.

Instead of Tesla, the committee added Etsy, Teradyne and Catalent to the S&P 500, removing H&R Block, Coty and Kohl's from the index.

Inclusion in the index would force numerous index funds focused on the S&P 500 to add the automaker's securities to the portfolio, which would contribute to further growth in quotations. Those expectations have been one of Tesla's growth drivers in recent months.

S&P Dow Jones Indices declined to disclose its reasons for not including Tesla in the S&P 500.

Russian tried to bribe a Tesla employee in the amount of $1 million for a cyber attack on the company

Egor Kryuchkov, who, as stated in the US Department of Justice detained on suspicion of trying to organize a cyber attack on American company, prepared it in relation to the manufacturer electric vehicles Tesla. About this head of Tesla Elon Musk August 28, 2020 years wrote in his Twitter blog, reacting to the portal article Teslarati. Read more here.

Splitting one share into five

On August 11, 2020, Tesla announced a share split at five-for-one.

"Each shareholder on 21 August 2020 will receive a dividend of four additional common shares for each share held at that time to be distributed after the close of trading on 28 August 2020. Trading will begin on the basis of share sharing, adjusted for August 31, 2020, "the company said in a statement.

Creating an Insurance Company

At the end of July 2020, Elon Musk announced the creation of Tesla Insurance, which will select customers an individual tariff depending on driving style. Read more here.

Tesla fires employees 3 years in a row

In early July 2020, it became known that Tesla had been laying off employees for three years, and this policy shook the confidence of many of the company's employees.

In 2018 and 2019, Tesla laid off 7% and 9% of its workforce, respectively, despite CEO Elon Musk's promise that the company no longer intended to resort to layoffs. In 2019, Tesla told its sellers that it planned to close most of its stores, and while only 10% of its outlets were closed, Tesla's workforce was down another 800 by the end of 2019. Such cuts unnerve Tesla employees who are feeling the instability of their workplace.

In Tesla, we had an ax hanging over our heads, "explained one of the sellers working on the West Coast. - Executives can fire you without notice, and this is a well-known fact.

In March 2020, Musk informed all Tesla employees that they could stay at home on vacation during the pandemic. However, three sellers admitted to worrying about the possible consequences.

For example, the company will have to cut staff due to lower demand. I'm afraid they'd rather leave people at work who kept coming to the factory, even when they were in danger of getting sick, rather than those who stayed at home.

A month later, Tesla placed an estimated half of its sales and delivery team on unpaid leave and temporarily slashed salaries for all employees because of the auto industry crisis, according to CNBC. Tesla did not respond to a request about what proportion of employees returned to work from unpaid leave.

When we had to sit on unpaid leave, we realized that our work was not really that stable, "noted a second seller working on the West Coast.[16]

By the end of 2019, Tesla had 48,016 on staff.

Tesla fires employees refusing to work in factories due to fear of coronavirus

In early July 2020, several Tesla workers accused the company of illegal actions. According to them, the company's leaders threaten to dismiss those employees who refuse to work in factories in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic due to concerns about their safety. Although the Fremont plant was reopened after a two-week outage, employees noted multiple safety issues and refused to go to work, after which they were contacted by human resources department representatives.

Tesla previously said employees wanting to stay home due to safety concerns could take unpaid leave. Many chose to take this option, and now they are forced to return to the plant under threats.

We pay specialists who must ensure our safety, but the existing measures are not enough. It's time to bring Elon Musk to justice, - say the workers of the plant.

According to them, the rules of social distancing and sanitization of equipment are not observed on the assembly lines. In addition, many employees do not wear masks, workers say.

Tesla employees Carlos Gabriel and Jessica Naro reported that they were contacted by representatives of the company's human resources department and offered to return to work. Jessica Naro refused and explained that she did not want to harm her six-year-old son, who has health problems. And Carlos Gabriel refused to continue the conversation when Tesla representatives forbade him to record the conversation. Gabriel believes he was fired precisely because of this, though Tesla publicly claims the employee did not respond to emails and voicemails and did not alert management to when he would return to work.^[17]

Tesla shareholders urged to remove Musk from board

On July 1, 2020, it became known that the consulting company Pensions & Investments Research Consultants (Pirc) recommended that Tesla shareholders vote to exclude Elon Musk from the board of directors of the automotive company. The reason for this was the agreement of 2018, according to which Musk can receive a reward of $55 billion from Tesla.

In the spring of 2018, the automaker's shareholders approved the terms of remuneration for the company's CEO Elon Musk. The remuneration does not provide for a fixed salary and bonuses, but is tied to the company's indicators. Pirc believes that that deal "unfairly enriches the CEO." In addition, the consulting company believes that Musk's behavior spoils Tesla's image, and also led to multimillion-dollar losses.

This is not the first time that the company's shareholders have been urged to vote against Elon Musk. So, in mid-2018, shareholders voted on the possible removal of him from the post of chairman of the board of directors. But most then supported the founder of the company. In August 2018, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he was considering a buyback of all Tesla shares for $420. A few days later, he abandoned the idea. As a result, the company's shares first rose sharply, and then collapsed, leading to multi-billion dollar losses for investors. The latter eventually sued Elon Musk, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused him of fraud. As a result, Musk was able to resolve the claims of the regulator, but was forced to leave the post of head of the board of directors. For July 2020^[18] remains Tesla's CEO and a member of the Tesla^[19] Musk^[20].

Dismissal of employees and reduction of salaries by 30%

On April 7, 2020, it became known about layoffs and salary cuts at Tesla. The American manufacturer of electric vehicles is forced to take these measures due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which led to the closure of factories.

On March 24, 2020, Tesla closed a San Francisco-area machine assembly facility and a solar panel factory in New York City. From April 13, the company will begin to reduce salaries to employees. In the United States, ordinary workers will receive 10% less than the previous one, directors - by 20%, vice presidents - by 30%, reports Reuters, citing an official letter sent by Tesla's head of human resources departments Valerie Capers Workman.

Company employees who cannot work from home will be placed on unpaid leave. Decisions to reduce headcount and salaries are made as part of cost management measures and achieve long-term plans, Workman said. Tesla hopes to resume car production by May 4, 2020.

Tesla's example shows that the coronavirus pandemic has reduced demand for cars in the United States, forcing automakers to send workers on vacation without pay.

At the American Tesla plant, which produced about 415 thousand cars in 2019, by the beginning of April 2020, more than 10 thousand people work. The suspension of production negatively affects the company's plans to increase production of the Tesla Y sports model, the demand for which, according to forecasts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, should exceed the demand for the rest of the models combined, Reuters reports.

In March 2020, the company warned that it did not have enough working capital to overcome the crisis. By the end of the third quarter of 2019, Tesla had $6.3 billion of its own cash.^[21]

Tesla will cut 92 hectares of forest for the construction of a plant near Berlin

In February 2020, the Supreme Administrative Court of Berlin and Brandenburg (OVG) rejected a lawsuit filed by eco-activists in which they asked to block the construction of a future Tesla plant near Berlin. The authors of the complaint were unhappy with the massive deforestation started by the company.

The company was sued by the Brandenburg Green League and the Bavarian Landscape and Biodiversity Conservation Association. Environmental organizations argued that the deforestation necessary for construction threatens local nature and can lead to pollution of water bodies.

After rejecting the claim (the decision is final and not subject to appeal), Tesla was able to continue deforestation. In total, the electric car manufacturer plans to eliminate about 92 hectares of forest. The area of ​ ​ the entire land plot purchased by the company for the construction of the enterprise is about 300 hectares.

Investments in the project are estimated at 4.4 billion euros. The plant plans to establish the production of electric cars and batteries for them. The number of personnel at the enterprise will first be 3 thousand people, and ultimately - 7 thousand.

Earlier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk argued that Gigafactory in Germany would not spend a lot of water. According to him, the forest that needs to be cut down is "not natural," it was planted for a cardboard factory. The automaker also promised it would relocate bats, reptiles and ant colonies that would be affected by the construction.

The judge of the administrative court of Frankfurt an der Oder, who first considered the case, initially decided against two environmental groups, but allowed to appeal his decision to OVG. The Supreme Administrative Court of Berlin and Brandenburg explained its decision by the fact that Tesla was able to justify "legal requirements for the early start of construction of the plant"^[22]

2019

Tesla hacks employees' phones and computers to spy on them

In early March 2019, a former Tesla employee accused the company of management hacking into workers' phones and computers to spy on them.

Sean Gouthro, a former Tesla security officer, filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). His testimony corroborates information provided in August 2018 by Karl Hansen, another former Tesla employee.

A statement from law firm Meissner Associates, which represents Hansen, said Tesla had not informed intelligence agencies about the company's drug distribution and the hacking of employees' cellphones and computers for the purpose of unauthorized surveillance. It was alleged that the company had installed specialist routing equipment designed to collect data from staff devices. At the time, the Securities and Exchange Commission USA and the Drug Enforcement Administration declined to comment.

Guthro also confirmed claims that Tesla intervened in an internal investigation into the theft of $37 million in raw materials at the Gigafactory plant, which produces lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. According to him, the company prevented the disclosure of these and other illegal actions to the authorities and shareholders. Elon Musk gave "false and misleading statements" about the investigation, Guthro said. The SEC lawsuit led to a settlement that required Musk to step down as Tesla's board chairman for three years and pay a fine.

A Tesla spokesman denies Guthro and Hansen's claims. He noted that Gutro's accusations are untrue and aimed only at attracting media attention. A spokesman also said that Guthro was fired from Tesla in January 2019 for non-performance and for repeated safety violations.^[23]

Reduction of 7% of the state

On January 18, 2019, Tesla Motors announced a 7% reduction in headcount, as a result of which more than 3 thousand employees will lose their jobs. The company is streamlining costs as part of Tesla's Model 3 electric vehicle expansion and aims to offer them affordable prices.

As Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote in a letter to employees, 2018 was both the toughest and most successful year ever for the company. The automaker's staff is up 30%, but that's more than the company can afford.

Despite the big successes, our products still prove too expensive for most people... There are many companies with the best life/work ratio, because they are bigger and work in mature industries or where there is no such predatory competition, Musk said.

According to him, Tesla needs money to improve the production process in order to sell the standard Model 3 at a price of $35 thousand per unit and maintain profitability.

Musk announced the need to ensure the delivery of the Model 3 electric car to all markets of presence by May 2019. The need for low-cost versions of the electric car is set to increase by July 1, when U.S. tax breaks for electric car buyers are halved.

The statement on mass layoffs brought down Tesla quotes: by the close of the exchange on January 18, 2019, the company's shares fell by 13%, to $302.26.

Meanwhile, CNBC reported Tesla's possible financial difficulties. On March 1, 2019, the maturity of convertible senior bonds at a conversion price of $359.87 per share expires. If the Tesla quotation rate is higher than this mark, then the debt will be converted into shares, otherwise the company will have to pay off the debt from its own funds. By the end of September 2018, Tesla had about $3 billion of its own funds.^[24]

Larry Ellison owns 1.75% stake in $1 billion Tesla

In January 2019, the size of Larry Ellison's stake in Tesla Motors became known. The founder of Oracle owns 3 million shares of the Oracle electric car maker, according to documents released by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which corresponds to a 1.75 percent stake. By January 8, 2019, the cost of this package is estimated at more than $1 billion. Read more here.

2018

Larry Ellison joining Tesla board

On December 28, 2018, Oracle founder Larry Ellison was announced to join the board of directors of Tesla Motors. The electric car maker complied with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirement as part of the claims settlement. Read more here.

Domain name tesla.com acquired for $11 million

According to Online Domain on December 9, 2018, Elon Musk the co-founder and CEO Tesla finally disclosed the cost of acquiring the Tesla.com domain name in February 2016. As he wrote in his, it "twitter" took him "more than 10 years, 11 million dollars and an unimaginable amount of effort" to buy Tesla.com.

As follows from another tweet by Elon Musk, Tesla could be called Faraday, and the Tesla Motors trademark was not invented by Musk himself: it was acquired at the end of 2004 from a certain Brad Sievert for 75 thousand dollars.

After receiving the Tesla.com, Musk was finally able to change the company's name to Tesla. Prior to that, Musk had to use the Teslamotors.com address for his company, which, according to him, seemed extremely inconvenient, primarily due to the much broader profile of the company. In 2016, the issue was resolved.^[25]

Elon Musk did not name the previous owner of the Tesla.com, but most likely he was a Silicon Valley engineer and Nikola Tesla fan Stu Grossman. The Tesla.com domain has belonged to Grossman since 1992, and until 2016, when the Tesla.com name passed to Elon Musk, the domain was not used, writes Online Domain.^[26]

Buffett discourages Apple from buying Tesla

At the end of August 2018, Warren Buffett called on Apple to abandon the possible purchase of Tesla Motors, because, according to the billionaire, this deal is meaningless, because it is more difficult to be a leader in the automotive industry than in IT. Read more here.

Tesla desperately asks suppliers to return some of the money

In July 2018, it became known that Tesla Motors began asking its suppliers to return some of the money under contracts. The American electric car manufacturer, which is in a difficult position, is counting on the support of partners at a critical moment.

At the disposal of The Wall Street Journal newspaper was a letter sent by Tesla to one of the suppliers. In it, the automotive company asks the contractor to return a significant part of the payments made since 2016.

Tesla has reached out to all suppliers to help the company become profitable, the report said. How many contractors and cashback amounts are in question is not specified.

Tesla itself declined to comment on the letter, which became public. But the company confirmed that it had asked suppliers to lower prices for projects, some of which began in 2016 and some of which are not yet completed by July 2018. Tesla also noted that such a request is a standard part of supply negotiations aimed at improving competitiveness, especially in light of the increase in the production of Model 3 electric cars.

Manufacturing consultant Dennis Virag believes the refund claims Tesla has made could pose a financial risk to suppliers  and jeopardize further deliveries of components.

It's absurd and shows that Tesla is desperate right now. They are concerned about their profitability, but they do not care about the profitability of their suppliers, the expert said.

Earlier, the head of Tesla Elon Musk called the main condition for the return to profitability of the company the release of more than 5 thousand copies of Model 3 per week. The company managed to achieve such a volume of production at stake in June 2018.^[27]

Cutting 9% of the state in a bid to return to profit

In June 2018, Tesla reported a roughly 9% reduction in headcount in a bid to cut costs and break even.

As part of the reorganization, the American company will lay off more than 4 thousand people. As Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said in an email sent to employees, the cuts will affect all divisions, but will not affect car assembly workers.

Tesla has never made an annual profit in its 15-year history. The company's inability to generate free cash flow, as well as a lack of progress toward production targets, has drawn increased attention from analysts and investors.

Musk also linked the layoffs to the decision not to renew the contract with the Home Depot chain of building materials stores and the concentration of efforts on solar power projects. In addition, Tesla has accumulated a large number of working positions that duplicate each other.

We made the decision, critically assessing each position and how effective this work can be. In addition, we assessed the abilities and skills of each employee of the company, - said Elon Musk.

He also assured that the layoffs will affect the achievement of the goals for the production of electric vehicles Model 3. A week before the end of June 2018, Tesla is going to release 5 thousand copies of Model 3. Previously, the company has repeatedly postponed the start of serial production of the machine, which negatively affected the manufacturer's quotes.

For the 12-month period, which ended on June 12, 2018, Tesla shares fell 8.8%. On June 12, securities rose 3.2% after Musk's announcement of layoffs.

By the end of 2017, the company employed about 37.5 thousand people, and at the beginning of 2018, about 8 thousand more employees were hired.^[28]

Hackers illegally mine cryptocurrency at the company's facilities

On February 21, 2018, it became known that hackers used Tesla's power to mine cryptocurrency. This was made possible by the hacking of the cloud system of the electric vehicle manufacturer.

According to RedLock, a company specializing in, cyber security the source of the vulnerability is open source system Kubernetes used to control applications. According to experts, Tesla's Kubernetes account was not password protected and contained information to access the company's cloud storage in. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Hackers used Tesla's power to mine Bitcoin, having previously built an advanced security system so that they could not be calculated for as long as possible. So, a special software was installed, hidden using CloudFlare, which made it possible to disguise the IP address of the server with the mining pool of attackers. In addition, fraudsters did not allow a large load on processors during mining so as not to attract attention.

The AWS cloud holds important telemetry data from Tesla cars, but the company argues that the incident did not affect customer privacy and machine security. The vulnerability has been fixed.

We run a vulnerability reward program to support research like this. This flaw was fixed a few hours after it became known. Apparently, only internal use data related to the development of test cars was compromised, Tesla said.

Previously, a British insurance company Aviva and a large card manufacturer were subjected SIM to cryptojacking using Kubernetes. Gemalto The hackers also used their public cloud storage for mining.^[29]

Mask's salary plan: remuneration only when the target capitalization level is reached

Tesla announced in early 2018 a plan to pay remuneration to its CEO Elon Musk. According to this plan, Musk will not receive anything if the company does not systematically increase its value. Remuneration to the general director will be paid only when Tesla's capitalization will overcome the next milestone^[30].

The ultimate goal of the company is to reach a capitalization of $650 billion, which will make it one of the five largest corporations in the United States. To do this, Tesla will have to overtake Amazon, which costs about $640 billion. Tesla's capitalization is about $59.4 billion. This is more than Ford, which costs $47.7 billion, but less than General Motors, which is estimated at $61.5 billion.

Musk will receive his first reward after capitalization rises to $100 billion. Next, he will be paid a fee for an increase in each new $50 billion. Having overcome the next mark, Musk will receive 1.69 million shares of the company, that is, a share of about 1%. If the set goals are not achieved, the head of the company will not receive anything, even if the capitalization grows, simply at a more modest pace, by 80-90%. According to California law, the company cannot pay an employee at all, so the general director will be paid a minimum salary of about $37 thousand a year.

This is not the first time Tesla has entered into a salary-forfeit arrangement with Musk. A similar plan was agreed in 2012, however, the goals were not so ambitious. Of the goals that were then outlined, Musk achieved all but one operational indicator. Tesla claims that this tactic helped it increase capitalization 17 times in its first five years. As a result, Musk currently owns a 13 billion stake in the company. He assures that within 10 years Tesla's capitalization can be increased to a trillion dollars.

2017

Tesla Motors renamed Tesla Inc

In February 2017, Tesla Motors was renamed Tesla Inc.

Legal action against former developer for technology theft

At the end of January 2017, Tesla filed a lawsuit against the former head of the division for the development and creation of autopilot Sterling Anderson. The company accused him of stealing sensitive information for use in his own startup and trying to lure Tesla employees. Anderson's partner Chris Urmson, who previously led Google's self-driving car project, was listed as a co-defendant in the lawsuit.

2015: Toyota sells its stake in Tesla

The Japanese carmaker at the end of 2015 sold shares in the developer of electric vehicles. According to the representative of the automaker Ryuo Sakai, the period of active cooperation with Tesla is already in the past, and without new ideas and developments it is futile. Toyota Motors acquired a 3.14% stake in Tesla in 2010, spending $50 million on them. And already in 2014, the Japanese began to gradually reduce their stake and their participation in the capital of Elon Musk. In 2016, the remaining stake was valued at $480 million.

Despite losses and the still unjustified expectations of investors, the company's cars will continue to arouse public and media interest through a successful PR strategy, correctly chosen marketing solutions and dreamers who are ready to pay for the new Tesla without even knowing the specific timing of its entry into the market.

Notes