John Yang:
Musk said he would still spend one or two days a week working for the administration.
Bobb Allyn is a technology correspondent for NPR who has covered Musk for many years.
Bobby, help us put this in perspective. Is this just one bad quarter, or are there some warning signs here?
Bobb Allyn, Business and Technology Reporter, NPR: I think there are some real warning signs.
One thing that’s really important to underscore with Musk is, this is not just one of his companies. This is the largest source of Elon Musk’s wealth, right? He is the richest man in the world because of just how big and just how powerful Tesla is.
So when Tesla’s sales are down, when Tesla’s profits are plunging, it’s not just bad for the carmaker. It’s bad for Elon’s position in the world. And what I think investors are seeing in this quarter, and it’s one of the worst quarters Tesla has had in the company’s history, is that people around the world are souring on what he is doing in the White House.
And abroad, especially in Europe, Germans are not so happy that he has become a vocal supporter of AfD, the anti-immigrant far right populist party in that country. And if you look at sales in Germany since Elon has supported that party, they have really cratered.
So many thought, oh, Musk has ties to the White House, he is close to President Trump, this should lift the fortunes of Tesla are now seeing there’s a bit of a backlash, and it’s bringing down one of his most important companies.
