Investor's Corner
Tesla board backs Elon Musk as he faces the ‘most painful’ year of his career
Elon Musk is known for managing multiple companies, but even those who have the gift of multitasking have a limit. Amidst the fallout of his tweets about having funding secured for Tesla’s possible privatization, Elon Musk is starting to feel a little burned out.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO recently opened up in an interview with the New York Times. The publication noted that during the hourlong session, Musk acknowledged that he was getting exhausted, and that the past year had been incredibly difficult. Musk also admitted that the exhaustion, partly caused by 120-hour work weeks, was starting to take a toll on his physical health.
“This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career. It was excruciating. It’s not been great, actually. I’ve had friends come by who are really concerned. There were times when I didn’t leave the factory for three or four days — days when I didn’t go outside. This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. And seeing friends,” he said.
Much like Tesla’s struggles with the Model 3 production ramp, a lot of the pressure Musk is currently feeling is caused by self-imposed goals. Elon Musk became Elon Musk due to his grit and determination, and he is never one to give up when faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Musk’s relentless nature is one of the core reasons why SpaceX is currently working to conduct crewed demonstration flights of its Crew Dragon spacecraft as early as April 2019, and why the Model 3 is starting to make its presence known in the US auto market.
Jim Ambras, VP product development at Zip2, the first company that Elon and his brother, Kimbal, founded, recalls the insane amount of drive that fuels Musk. In a recent statement to WIRED, Ambras described how Musk would sleep on a bean bag close to his computer just to get work done. The former Zip2 executive also narrated that at one time, the Zip2 team invited Musk to go mountain biking. Unfortunately, the trail proved to be far more challenging than the team expected, even causing Elon’s athletic cousin Russ Rive to get sick when he reached the mountain’s top. Musk, who was not in any way conditioned to undertake such a physical task, was the last one to the summit. Musk finished the climb, but he pushed himself past his limits to do so.
“We’re all at the top waiting for him. We just assumed he turned around and went home. Then we see him coming up around the turn, and he was just completely red. Beet-red. He was riding his bike, he wasn’t walking his bike, and it was just clear that he was killing himself. He just looked like he was torturing himself,” Ambras said.
Well into 2018, Elon Musk is still doing much of the same thing. His hyper-aggressive targets for the Model 3, for one, ultimately caused delays in the vehicle’s production. Being a publicly-traded company, Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) felt these effects. Today, Tesla shares are known for their wild swings and overall volatility, as well as their penchant for attracting passionate short-sellers. Tesla is currently the most-shorted stock in the market, with more than 30 million shares being sold short. Musk has been affected by short-sellers’ activities, and in his recent interview with the NYT, he admitted that people betting against the company are giving him a lot of stress. Musk even noted that he expects the next few months to be even more difficult, as attacks against Tesla would likely increase.
“(I am) bracing for at least a few months of extreme torture from the short-sellers, who are desperately pushing a narrative that will possibly result in Tesla’s destruction. They’re not dumb guys, but they’re not supersmart. They’re O.K. They’re smartish,” Musk said.
True to Musk’s own predictions, the attacks against Tesla had only increased since talks about the company’s privatization emerged. Musk is currently facing an investigation from the SEC about his tweets, and reports from several media outlets suggest that Tesla’s board is trying to do damage control. In response to some of these reports, Tesla’s board issued a statement to the NYT expressing its full support for the embattled CEO.
“There have been many false and irresponsible rumors in the press about the discussions of the Tesla board. We would like to make clear that Elon’s commitment and dedication to Tesla is obvious. Over the past 15 years, Elon’s leadership of the Tesla team has caused Tesla to grow from a small start-up to having hundreds of thousands of cars on the road that customers love, employing tens of thousands of people around the world, and creating significant shareholder value in the process.”
For now, reports are emerging that Tesla is looking for a Chief Operating Officer that can support Elon Musk’s workload. SpaceX, after all, is pretty much working like a well-oiled machine, and a lot of it is due to the work and efforts of Gwynne Shotwell, the COO and President of the private space firm. Musk stated that to the best of his knowledge, there is no active search for a Tesla COO, though he did admit that a couple of years ago, the company approached Sheryl Sandberg, the second-highest executive of Facebook, about the position. Rounding out his recent interview, Elon Musk stated that he has no plans to let go of his position as Tesla’s CEO and Chairman, but he did state that if there is anyone that can “do a better job,” he is very much willing to hand over the reins of the company.
“If you have anyone who can do a better job, please let me know. They can have the job. Is there someone who can do the job better? They can have the reins right now,” Musk said.
Elon Musk
Tesla analyst says Musk stock buy should send this signal to investors
“With Musk’s (Tesla stock) purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased roughly $1 billion in Tesla shares on Friday, and analysts are now breaking down the move as the stock is headed upward.
One of them is William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer, who said in a new note to investors on Monday that Musk’s move should send a signal of confidence to stock buyers, especially considering the company’s numerous catalysts that currently exist.
Elon Musk just bought $1 billion in Tesla stock, his biggest purchase ever
Dorsheimer said in the note:
“With Musk’s (Tesla stock) purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish. This purchase is Musk’s first buy since 2020. To us, this sends a strong signal of confidence in the most important part of Tesla’s future business, robotaxi.”
Musk putting an additional $1 billion back into the company in the form of more stock ownership is obviously a huge vote of confidence.
He knows more than anyone about the progress Tesla has made and is making on the Robotaxi platform, as well as the company’s ongoing efforts to solve vehicle autonomy. If he’s buying stock, it is more than likely a good sign.
Tesla has continued to expand its Robotaxi platform in a number of ways. The project has gotten bigger in terms of service area, vehicle fleet, and testing population. Tesla has also recently received a permit to test in Nevada, unlocking the potential to expand into a brand-new state for the company.
In the note, Dorsheimer also touched on Musk’s recent pay package, revealing that William Blair recently met with Tesla’s Board of Directors, who gave the firm some more color on the situation:
“We recently participated in a meeting with Tesla’s board of directors to discuss the details of Musk’s performance package. The board is confident of its position in the Delaware case and anticipates a verdict by end of year. It does not expect a similar situation to occur under new Texas jurisdiction. Musk has the board’s full support, and we expect he’ll get more than enough shareholder support for this to pass with flying colors.”
Tesla stock is up over 6 percent so far today, trading at $421.50 at the time of publication.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk just bought $1 billion in Tesla stock, his biggest purchase ever
Prior to this latest move, Musk’s most recent purchase was for about 200,000 shares worth $10 million in 2020.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose on Monday after CEO Elon Musk disclosed a rare insider purchase of company stock worth about $1 billion.
A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Musk acquired 2.57 million shares last Friday at various prices. The move represents Musk’s largest TSLA purchase ever by value, as per Verity data.
Elon Musk’s TSLA purchase
The disclosure sent Tesla shares up more than 8% in premarket trading Monday, as investors read the purchase as a notable vote of confidence, as stated in a CNBC report. Tesla stock had closed slightly lower Friday but remains more than 25% higher over the past three months. It should be noted that prior to this latest move, Musk’s most recent purchase was for about 200,000 shares worth $10 million in 2020.
Market watchers say the purchase could help shore up investor sentiment amid a volatile year for TSLA stock. Shares have faced pressure from a variety of factors, from year-over-year sales challenges due to the new Model Y changeover, political controversies tied to Musk, and reduced U.S. incentives for EVs under the Trump administration. Nevertheless, analysts such as Wedbush’s Dan Ives stated that Musk’s purchase was a “huge sign of confidence for Tesla bulls and shows Musk is doubling down on his Tesla A.I. bet.”
Tesla and Elon Musk
Musk already owns about 13% of Tesla, and his latest purchase comes as the company prepares for a key shareholder vote in November. Investors will decide whether to approve a compensation package for Musk that could ultimately be worth as much as $975 billion if ambitious market value milestones are achieved. The package has a long-term target of pushing Tesla’s market capitalization to $8.5 trillion, compared with about $1.3 trillion at Friday’s close.
Wall Street’s current consensus price target still implies a roughly 20% decline from current levels, though some Tesla bulls remain optimistic that the company could shift its focus toward autonomy, AI, and robotics. Musk has also asked shareholders to approve an investment into his latest venture, xAI.
Investor's Corner
Tesla bear turns bullish for two reasons as stock continues boost
“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.
A Tesla bear is changing his tune, turning bullish for two reasons as the company’s stock has continued to get a boost over the past month.
Dan Nathan, a notorious skeptic of Tesla shares, said he is changing his tune, at least in the short term, on the company’s stock because of “technicals and sentiment,” believing the company is on track for a strong Q3, but also an investment story that will slowly veer away from its automotive business.
“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.
He also said he believes a rally for the stock could continue as it heads into the end of the quarter, especially as the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit is coming to an end at the end of the month.
With that being said, he believes the consensus for Q3 deliveries is “probably low,” as he believes Wall Street is likely underestimating what Tesla will bring to the table on October 1 or 2 when it reports numbers for the quarter.
Tesla bear Dan Nathan has flipped his script on Tesla $TSLA shares, citing “technicals and sentiment”
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 12, 2025
Tesla shares are already up over five percent today, with gains exceeding nine percent over the past five trading days, and more than fourteen percent in the past month.
While some analysts are looking at the performance of other Mag 7 stocks, movement on rates from the Federal Reserve, and other broader market factors as reasoning for Tesla’s strong performance, it appears some movement could be related to the company’s recent developments instead.
Over the past week, Tesla has made some strides in its Robotaxi program, including a new license to test the platform in the State of Nevada, which we reported on.
Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state
Additionally, the company is riding the tails of the end of the EV tax credit, as inventory, both new and used, is running extremely low, generally speaking. Many markets do not have any vehicles to purchase as of right now, making delivery by September 30 extremely difficult.
However, there has been some adjustments to the guidelines by the IRS, which can be read here:
Tesla is trading at around $389 at 10:56 a.m. on the East Coast.
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