Elon Musk employees fear his moods if Tesla or SpaceX fail: report



[ad_1]

  • Elon Musk oversees two companies – Tesla and SpaceX – and employees at both companies are closely monitoring his mood, according to Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton.
  • Tesla employees will watch SpaceX launches and live in fear of Musk’s bad mood if they fail. If the launch is successful, employees will submit budget requests while Musk is happy, Vanity Fair reports.
  • Employees are also keeping a close watch on Musk’s Twitter account, checking it every morning to see if he has tweeted anything controversial overnight.
  • Musk is known to be outspoken and sometimes erratic, both online and offline. In April, he launched a curse-filled tirade about coronavirus lockdowns during Tesla’s first quarter earnings call.
  • Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

Between Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk oversees tens of thousands of employees – and those employees live in fear of his ever-changing moods.

That’s according to a new play by Nick Bilton of Vanity Fair, which delves into Musk’s successful year and the controversies that followed. Bilton said he spoke to current Musk employees who felt nervous about his Twitter habit and closely monitored Musk’s mood for more favorable results at work.

Musk runs two companies simultaneously, and Tesla employees told Vanity Fair that they pay attention to what is going on at SpaceX, and vice versa, as it will affect how Musk treats them afterwards.

“Sure [SpaceX] on launch days, everyone at Tesla is tuned in to see if the launch is successful, not because we’re invested in rockets, but because it has a direct impact on Elon’s mood for the next few days, ”a Tesla executive told Vanity Fair. there was a failure on a launch, there would be hell to pay; you didn’t want to have a phone call with Elon afterwards. “

If a SpaceX launch went well, however, Tesla employees would take the opportunity to flood Musk with budget requests, according to Vanity Fair.

Employees also told Vanity Fair that they check Musk’s Twitter account every morning to see what he tweeted overnight in case it could lead to a lawsuit, affect Tesla’s share price. or harm Musk’s public image.

“We all wake up and look at it every day, thinking, Oh, my God, what now? You really had no idea what you were going to see, ”a former employee told Vanity Fair.

A Tesla spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Musk is known to be outspoken and, at times, erratic on social media, a habit that has put him in hot water several times in the past. In 2020, Musk used the platform to pitch his theories about the coronavirus crisis, including his dissatisfaction with lockdowns and misinformation about how the virus affects children.

And offline, Musk has let his temper flare up on several occasions, perhaps most notably in April, when he criticized shelter-in-place orders on a conference call following first quarter results. from Tesla.

“Frankly, I would call it the forced imprisonment of people in their homes against all of their constitutional rights, in my opinion,” he said on the call. “It shatters people’s freedoms in a horrible and wrong way and not why they came to America or built this country. What…. Excuse me. Outrage. Outrage.

For more on Musk’s Wild Year, read the full story of Vanity Fair »

[ad_2]

Source link