Investor's Corner
Tesla employee allegedly ‘sabotaged’ manufacturing operations after failed promotion, says Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to employees Sunday night, alleging that a disgruntled employee has committed sabotage against the company.
Musk’s email, which was sent on Sunday night, stated that the employee conducted a rather “extensive and damaging sabotage” to Tesla’s operations, including changing codes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System and exporting the company’s data to outsiders. Musk also noted that the saboteur acted in bad faith against the company out of frustration over a failed promotion. Musk stated that the scope of the person’s attack remains unknown, though what has been admitted so far was grave.
Here is Musk’s email last Sunday in its entirety.
From: Elon Musk
To: Everybody
Subject: Some concerning news
June 17, 2018
11:57 p.m.
I was dismayed to learn this weekend about a Tesla employee who had conducted quite extensive and damaging sabotage to our operations. This included making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames and exporting large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties.
The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted to so far is pretty bad. His stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not receive. In light of these actions, not promoting him was definitely the right move.
However, there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye, so the investigation will continue in depth this week. We need to figure out if he was acting alone or with others at Tesla and if he was working with any outside organizations.
As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die. These include Wall Street short-sellers, who have already lost billions of dollars and stand to lose a lot more. Then there are the oil & gas companies, the wealthiest industry in the world — they don’t love the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power & electric cars. Don’t want to blow your mind, but rumor has it that those companies are sometimes not super nice. Then there are the multitude of big gas/diesel car company competitors. If they’re willing to cheat so much about emissions, maybe they’re willing to cheat in other ways?
Most of the time, when there is theft of goods, leaking of confidential information, dereliction of duty or outright sabotage, the reason really is something simple like wanting to get back at someone within the company or at the company as a whole. Occasionally, it is much more serious.
Please be extremely vigilant, particularly over the next few weeks as we ramp up the production rate to 5k/week. This is when outside forces have the strongest motivation to stop us.
If you know of, see or suspect anything suspicious, please send a note to [email address removed for privacy] with as much info as possible. This can be done in your name, which will be kept confidential, or completely anonymously.
Looking forward to having a great week with you as we charge up the super exciting ramp to 5000 Model 3 cars per week!
Will follow this up with emails every few days describing the progress and challenges of the Model 3 ramp.
Thanks for working so hard to make Tesla successful,
Elon
A leaked email from Elon Musk on Monday also referenced a possible act of sabotage against the company. This time around, Musk noted that there was a rather mysterious fire in the body-in-white production line. While the flames were extinguished and there were no injuries from the incident, the fire did stop the production line for several hours. Musk has admitted that the fire could have been a random event, though he did quote Intel founder Andy Grove by stating that “only the paranoid survive.”
Tesla has recently displayed encouraging signs of its capability to scale the production of the Model 3, with Musk recently sharing an image of the first Model 3 Performance Dual Motor rolling off Tesla’s new assembly line. Together with improving expectations from Wall Street, the company’s stock has rebounded after a steep drop earlier this year. As of Monday’s close, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 3.53%, trading at $370.85.
Elon Musk
Tesla executes ‘a must’ with Musk as race to AI supremacy goes on: Wedbush
Dan Ives of Wedbush says Tesla made the right move getting Elon Musk his pay package.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) executed what Wedbush’s Dan Ives called “a must” this morning as it finalized a new pay package for its CEO Elon Musk.
The move helped give Musk his first meaningful compensation at Tesla since 2017, when the company offered a pay package that was based on performance and proven growth. That package was approved by shareholders on two separate occasions, but was denied to Musk both times by the Delaware Chancery Court.
On Monday, Tesla announced on X that it had created a new package that would give 96 million shares of restricted stock to Musk to compensate him for the “immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders.”
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla has announced that its Board has unanimously approved a recommendation from the Special Committee of the Board to grant Elon an award of restricted stock equal to approximately one-third of the compensation he earned under the 2018 CEO Performance Award.
The… https://t.co/g7RKrTymDL pic.twitter.com/dnvkILlz6H
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 4, 2025
The details of the pay package are designed to retain Musk, who has voiced some concerns about his control of Tesla, as “activist shareholders” have used lawsuits to disrupt the previously approved package.
You can read all the details of it here:
Tesla rewards CEO Elon Musk with massive, restricted stock package
Ives says Musk’s retention is ‘a must’
Ives said in a note to investors on Monday that with the raging AI talent war that Tesla made a smart move by doing what it could to retain Musk.
He wrote:
“With the AI talent war now fully underway across Big Tech, we believe this was a strategic move to keep TSLA’s top asset, Musk, would stay focused at the company with his priority being to bolster the company’s growth strategy over the coming years. With this interim award increasing Musk’s voting rights upon this grant, which Musk honed in on and mentioned was increasingly important to incentivize him to stay focused on the matters at hand, this was a strategic move by the Board to solidify Musk as CEO of Tesla over the coming years with this framework for Musk’s pay package and greater voting control removing a major overhang on the story.”
He went on to say:
“While the groundwork is now in place for the next few years, it will be critical for the Tesla Board of Directors to get this long-term compensation strategy in place prior to the company’s November 6th shareholder meeting which would address the elephant in the room and remove a significant overhang on the stock.”
Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and its $500 price target on the stock.
Elon Musk
Tesla rewards CEO Elon Musk with massive, restricted stock package
Tesla announced a new pay package for Elon Musk that is restricted and will award him nearly $30 billion for contributions to the company.
Tesla has rewarded CEO Elon Musk with a massive, restricted stock package that equates to about $29 billion in shares in an effort to retain him as the head of the company.
It is also a package that aims to reward Musk for leading numerous Tesla projects that have brought billions in value for shareholders over the past seven years. After his 2018 pay package was rejected by a Delaware Chancery Court, Musk started to question his future at the company.
This move, performed by a Special Committee of the Tesla Board, should retain him for several years.
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla has announced that its Board has unanimously approved a recommendation from the Special Committee of the Board to grant Elon an award of restricted stock equal to approximately one-third of the compensation he earned under the 2018 CEO Performance Award.
The… https://t.co/g7RKrTymDL pic.twitter.com/dnvkILlz6H
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 4, 2025
On Monday morning, Tesla shared on X that it had approved a recommendation from a Special Committee comprised of Board Chair Robyn Denholm and fellow board member Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. It aimed to compensate Musk for his “extraordinary work” and reward him after not receiving “meaningful compensation” for the last eight years.
The post stated that “Tesla is committed to honoring its promises in the 2018 CEO Performance Award and intends to compensate its CEO for his future services commensurate with his contributions to our company and shareholders, we have recommended this award as a first step, ‘good faith’ payment to Elon.”
The award includes the following:
- 96 million restricted shares of stock, subject to Elon paying a purchase price upon meeting a two-year vesting term, to be delivered after receipt of antitrust regulatory approval
- The purchase price will be equal to the split-adjusted exercise price of the stock options awarded to Elon under the 2018 CEO Performance Award ($23.34 per share)
- A requirement that Elon serve continuously in a senior leadership role at Tesla during the two-year vesting term
- A pledging allowance to cover tax payments or the purchase price
- A mandatory holding period of five years from the grant date, except to cover tax payments or the purchase price (with any sales for such purposes to be conducted through an orderly disposition in coordination with Tesla); and
- If the Delaware courts fully reinstate the 2018 CEO Performance Award, this interim award will be forfeited or returned or a portion of the 2018 CEO Performance Award will be forfeited. To put it simply, there cannot be any “double dip.” Elon will not be able to keep this new award in addition to the options he will be awarded under the 2018 CEO Performance Award, should the courts rule in our favor
The board added:
“The Special Committee believes now is the right time to take decisive action to recognize the extraordinary value that Elon created for Tesla shareholders. As such, the Board (with Elon and Kimbal Musk recusing themselves) has unanimously approved a recommendation from the Special Committee of the Board to grant Elon an award of restricted stock equal to approximately one-third of the compensation he earned under the 2018 CEO Performance Award.”
Musk and his brother, Kimbal, are both members of the Tesla board. However, both Musk brothers recused themselves from any voting on this pay package.
The move comes as Musk has hinted on several occasions that he is concerned about his control of the company. His current stake in Tesla stands at about 12.8 percent. He has said a few times he would be more comfortable with a 25 percent stake to protect himself against “activist shareholders.”
He commented on it during the Q2 Earnings Call in late July:
“That is a major concern for me, as I’ve mentioned in the past. I hope that is addressed at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting. But, yeah, it is a big deal. I want to find that I’ve got so little control that I can easily be ousted by activist shareholders after having built this army of humanoid robots. I think my control over Tesla, Inc. should be enough to ensure that it goes in a good direction, but not so much control that I can’t be thrown out if I go crazy.”
The pay package should alleviate any concerns that Tesla would lose Musk as its CEO. Retaining him is perhaps the biggest step in ensuring consistent progress is made on several fronts, including AI and Robotics.
Investor's Corner
Tesla tailwinds could drive momentum-filled finish to 2025: analyst
Tesla is heading toward some momentum to finish out the year, one Wall Street firm believes.
Tesla has some tailwinds that could drive it toward a momentum-filled finish to the year, one Wall Street analyst is predicting.
The tailwinds are joined by some minor risks that have impacted the broader electric vehicle market, but overall, this firm believes Tesla has many catalysts moving forward.
Emmanuel Rosner of Wolfe Research believes that Tesla has plenty of things that could drive the stock upward as we approach the end of the year. With Q3 well underway, Tesla has about five months of catalysts to rely on to erase the roughly 18 percent drop in stock price it has so far this year.
At first glance, it is easy to see the things that would have investors bullish on Tesla for the rest of 2025 and even beyond. Initially, the Robotaxi launch and expansion, which spread to Northern California last night, provide potentially huge tailwinds for the company moving forward.
Along with that, and slightly related, are the advancements in Full Self-Driving that the company has made over the past few months.
This includes the potential launch of the FSD suite in regions like Europe and Australia, where the company believes it will make some progress on regulatory approval in the coming months.
Finally, Wolfe says the company’s Optimus project, which is expected to enter scale production sometime next year, is the third catalyst for Tesla moving forward.
With these three projects in motion, Tesla truly can begin to work on rebounding from a rough 2025 on the market.
Rosner writes:
“This name trades more around the narrative than the numbers. And net-net, we tactically see an improving narrative from here. Tesla has several catalysts coming up w/r/t FSD and Robotaxi, including an expansion of their AV service into several new U.S. markets (San Francisco, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, etc.). The company plans to unlock hands-free/eyes-off autonomy for FSD owners in select U.S. locations by YE25. Supervised FSD in China and Europe is expected to launch over the next ~12 months. And, Optimus is expected to enter scale production in 2026.”
Tesla is currently trading around $310 at around 3:20 p.m. on the East Coast.
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Tesla executes ‘a must’ with Musk as race to AI supremacy goes on: Wedbush
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