5 Takeaways From Elon Musk’s Media Blitz

Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned in an earnings name for the corporate final month that he will probably be cutting down his involvement with the White Home DOGE workplace to spend extra time on Tesla.

That message was on full show on Tuesday, after Musk hammered residence his dedication to Tesla in his interviews with Bloomberg and CNBC.

Listed below are the 5 takeaways from Musk’s media blitz on Tuesday:

1. Musk mentioned he’ll keep on as Tesla’s CEO for the subsequent 5 years

Musk spoke to Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain in a video interview on the Qatar Financial Discussion board. Husain requested if Musk will nonetheless be Tesla’s CEO in 5 years.

“Sure,” Musk replied.

“Little doubt about that in any respect?” Husain continued.

“Nicely, no, I might die,” Musk mentioned. “Let me see if I am useless.”

Musk has confronted calls from buyers to pay extra consideration to Tesla after his work at DOGE sparked protests and boycotts. The corporate has been fighting heightened competitors from Chinese language automakers like BYD and falling gross sales numbers in Europe.

“Lets name it like it’s: Tesla goes via a disaster and there’s one one that can repair it….Musk,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a memo in March.

“When you agree or disagree with DOGE it misses the purpose that by Musk spending 110% of his time with DOGE (and never as Tesla CEO) since President Trump obtained again into the White Home this has basically turned Tesla right into a political image….and this can be a dangerous factor,” Ives added in his observe.

2. Musk mentioned he is ‘finished sufficient’ political spending

Musk mentioned in his interview with Husain that he will probably be reducing down on his political spending, although he didn’t say if this was as a result of backlash he is confronted for it.

“By way of political spending, I’ll do so much much less sooner or later,” Musk advised Husain. “I believe I’ve finished sufficient.”

Musk mentioned whereas he doesn’t “at present see a cause” for political spending, he mentioned he’ll begin contributing once more “if I see a cause to do political spending sooner or later.”

Musk spent no less than $277 million backing President Donald Trump and different GOP candidates in final yr’s elections, making him certainly one of Trump’s largest supporters.

Final month, Trump advised reporters throughout a Cupboard assembly on the White Home that he does not really want Musk in his administration.

“Elon has finished a unbelievable job. Look, he is sitting right here, and I do not care. I do not want Elon for something aside from I occur to love him,” Trump mentioned on April 10.

3. Musk mentioned Tesla robotaxis will probably be geo-fenced and keep away from intersections

Musk advised CNBC’s David Faber in an interview on Tuesday that Tesla’s robotaxis will probably be geo-fenced to sure components of Austin when the service launches subsequent month.

“After we deploy the automobiles in Austin, we are literally going to deploy it to not all the Austin area however solely to the components of Austin we think about to be the most secure. So we’ll geo-fence it,” Musk advised Faber.

“It isn’t going to take intersections except we’re extremely assured it may do effectively with that intersection. Or it can simply take a route round that intersection,” Musk added.

Musk introduced Tesla’s robotaxi throughout a launch occasion in October. He advised CNBC on Tuesday he expects to develop Tesla’s robotaxi fleet in Austin to 1,000 automobiles “inside just a few months,” earlier than rolling out the service to different cities like San Francisco and San Antonio.

4. Musk mentioned there is not any want for Tesla to purchase Uber

Musk advised CNBC on Tuesday he did not see a necessity for Tesla to purchase Uber when Tesla can rely by itself fleet of autonomous automobiles.

“There is no want as a result of we have now numerous automobiles. We’ve got tens of millions of automobiles that can be capable of function autonomously,” Musk advised Faber.

“And I ought to say that it is a mixture of a Tesla-owned fleet and in addition enabling Tesla homeowners to have the ability to add or subtract their automobile to the fleet, in order that present Tesla homeowners will be capable of earn cash by including their automobile to the fleet for autonomous use,” Musk added.

Earlier, in February, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi mentioned he would favor to not compete with Musk and Tesla.

“Yeah hear, nobody desires to compete in opposition to Tesla or Elon, should you may also help it,” Khosrowshahi mentioned in an interview with know-how and media analyst Ben Thompson for his publication, Stratechery.

Khosrowshahi advised Thompson it will be useful for Tesla to supply rides on Uber.

“Then, that Tesla that’s each on Uber, and by the best way, they could possibly be each on Uber and the community, that’s going to create a lot, rather more income,” Khosrowshahi mentioned.

“Finally, we’re hoping that my appeal and the financial argument will get Tesla to work with us as effectively. If they need a direct channel, no downside,” Khosrowshahi mentioned.

5. Musk mentioned he is not ruling out a merger between Tesla and xAI

When requested if a merger between Tesla and xAI was on the playing cards, Musk mentioned “something is feasible” although there are “no plans to take action.”

“It isn’t out of the query, however clearly it will require Tesla shareholder help,” Musk advised Faber on Tuesday.

Musk began his personal AI firm in 2023. Musk had beforehand cofounded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 however left OpenAI’s board in 2018.

In March, xAI acquired X, previously Twitter, in an all-stock deal that valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022.

Musk mentioned in a livestream in January that xAI’s chatbot, Grok, will probably be included in Tesla’s automobiles however didn’t give a particular launch date.

“Grok in Tesla’s is coming quickly. So you’ll simply be capable of speak to your Tesla and ask for something,” Musk mentioned in his livestream.

Representatives for Musk at Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark from BI.