Elon Musk acted like a jerk, and Tesla stock paid the price

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk held a long, odd earnings conference call Wednesday in which he insulted analysts, the media, federal regulators and people who died behind the wheel of his cars, and then told anyone concerned about volatility not to invest in his company.

Unsurprisingly, volatility ensued, as Tesla  shares dropped quickly during an increasingly bizarre call with the very analysts and media whom Musk attacked.

Tesla on Wednesday disclosed the largest quarterly loss in the history of a company known far and wide for losing vast sums of money, with a net loss of almost $785 million. The numbers still managed to beat expectations that have been repeatedly lowered for more than a year, which led Musk to take a victory lap on Twitter after losing more than three quarters of a billion dollars in three months.

It only got weirder from there. In his conference-call introduction, Musk confused per-week and per-day production figures, described a “super complicated” robot Tesla designed and built before realizing it could not perform its unnecessary function, then mentioned offhandedly that he planned to restructure the company this month — a disclosure he never revisited to provide more information.

When the question-and-answer session started, Musk turned vitriolic, and not even his fellow executives were safe. After Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja referred to Tesla as “best in class” for batteries while responding to an analyst query, he was interrupted by Musk.

“The best. It is not a class,” Musk interjected.

“Yes, we’re the best. Sorry,” Ahuja replied.

“The best in a class of one,” Musk made sure to point out.

Soon, Musk turned his ire toward the financial analysts who were asking the questions. When Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi attempted to ask about capital-expenditure spending and the money needed, Musk cut him off by yelling “Next!” When RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak then asked how many people with Model 3 reservations were actually taking delivery of their cars, Musk declined to answer any more “boring,” “dry” questions.

“You’re killing me,” he said.

Instead, Musk turned to Galileo Russell, a YouTuber whom Musk allowed to ask a question after an online campaign to appear on the earnings call. Instead of a single question, however, Musk allowed Russell to ask roughly a dozen questions, few with much relation to the quarter in question or near-term Tesla performance. Russell instead focused on long-term goals, leading to an entertaining interview that Musk used to air his ire.

Russell’s first question, about Tesla’s plan for an autonomous ride-sharing network, led to a rant about the media in which Musk intimated that federal regulators are only doing their job because of misleading press coverage of drivers who have died behind the wheel of a Tesla while using its inappropriately named “Autopilot” driver-assistance technology. Musk went so far as to suggest that reporters will cause more deaths by covering the deaths of people who are using this new technology that Musk and others believe will soon be widespread.

“If the press is hounding the regulators, and the public is living under the misapprehension that autonomy is less safe because of misleading press, then this is where I find the challenge predicting it to be very difficult,” Musk said. “And, yeah, it’s really incredibly irresponsible of any journalists with integrity to write an article that would lead people to believe that autonomy is less safe. Because people might actually turn it off, and then die.”

When asked again about Autopilot later in the call, he again attacked the media, which Tesla admittedly relies on for free marketing, and then said the blame lies with his customers — the very people who determine Tesla’s success.

“When there is a serious accident, almost always — in fact, maybe always — the case is that it is an experienced user, and the issue is more one of complacency. Like, they get too used to it,” Musk said. “That tends to be more of an issue. It is not a lack of understanding of what Autopilot can do. It’s actually thinking they know more about Autopilot than they do, like quite a significant understanding of it.”

By the time Baird analyst Ben Kallo took the phone more than an hour into the call, the apprehension was thick. Kallo took more time with an introduction to his question, which gave reasoning for why Musk should answer it and not be angry at him, than actually asking the question.

Musk did not really answer his question, instead complaining about leaks to the media and his own investors.

“I think that if people are concerned about volatility, they should definitely not buy our stock,” Musk said. “I’m not here to convince you to buy our stock. Do not buy it if volatility is scary.”

If volatility is scary, Tesla’s after-hours performance could double as another sequel to “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Shares originally gained after the numbers hit, but soon fell to a decline of about 1%. After Musk was rude to two analysts in a row, ignoring questions that investors actually cared about, that decline suddenly steepened to a loss of about 5%. If that drop holds into Thursday’s trading session, it would add to Tesla’s 3.3% decline so far this year, which is greater than a 1.4% decline for the S&P 500 index  in 2018.

A CEO should have to answer to someone when he or she insults the company’s investors, large banks’ analysts and media members in a series of screeds that seems to have an effect on the stock price. That would be the board of directors, but Tesla barely has one: Musk is chairman and has stocked the board with supporters, including his own brother.

Tesla has obvious problems. Executives like chip expert Jim Keller are fleeing, factory workers are attempting to organize as reports suggest an unsafe workplace, and Musk continues to add more pet projects to a company that can’t seem to get up to speed on the project he added years ago, the Model 3. Musk’s increasingly bizarre and combative behavior is not helping.

Tesla has the chance to be a world-changing and profitable company that pushes us to a more sustainable and cleaner future, mostly because of Elon Musk. It also has the chance to be an unmitigated disaster that collapses under the weight of outlandish ambitions and debt, mostly because of Elon Musk. Performances like Tuesday’s conference call only push the needle toward the latter result.