On the question of Tesla’s (TSLA-3.33%) leadership, Elon Musk has one thing to say: until death do us part. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum Tuesday, Tesla’s CEO and founder said he would still be at the wheel in five years’ time, “unless I die.”
Musk said that the electric vehicle maker’s woes had already “turned around,” dismissing a weak European market as a stubborn anomaly compared to strong demand everywhere else.
When asked about Tesla users applying stickers to their vehicles that read, “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” Musk replied: “Yes, we’ve lost some sales perhaps on the left but we’ve gained them on the right. The sales numbers at this point are strong and we see no problem with demand.”
Tesla’s latest quarterly earnings paint a different picture, however. During the first quarter, revenue declined by 9% compared to the same period last year, and the company’s auto segment saw a 20% drop in revenue. Deliveries also fell short of projections, with sales of 336,681 units, down 13% year-over-year.
Souring consumer sentiment toward the CEO has weighed on sales. An Axios Harris Poll 100 published Tuesday revealed a 30% drop in Tesla’s reputation over the last decade, plummeting from “Excellent” to “Poor.” Shares in Tesla fell by more than 50% between December and April, although they have rebounded in recent weeks as Musk reassured investors he would be taking a step back from overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The tech entrepreneur also used the forum to discuss his other businesses. It’s “possible” that Starlink, a satellite internet service operated by SpaceX, might go public at some point in the future, he said, but emphasized there was no rush to do so. SpaceX is projected to reach $11.8 billion in revenue next year, driven by growing U.S. military contracts, according to market research firm Novaspace. That would be almost triple the firm’s revenue from 2023.
On the question of artificial intelligence, Musk noted that he’d like to see U.S. regulation, but only in moderation. Musk is a major player in the AI arms race: his own company, xAI, has raised billions of dollars to ramp up its data centre infrastructure, in order to train more advanced models. Its supercomputer cluster “Colossus,” located in Memphis, Tennessee, is thought to be the world’s largest.
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