Elon Musk said Tesla almost died. The stock market rose

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Tesla

(TSLA) nearly died, according to Elon Musk, but investors do not seem to care.

The Tesla stock rose more than 6% Monday, reaching $ 346 per share, following the release of an episode of the HBO mini-series Axios in which Musk was stated that her company was barely dead over the months, while she was working on producing problems with her Model 3 sedan.

"Tesla was actually threatened with death because of the Model 3 production ramp "said Musk. "Essentially, the company was bleeding money like crazy. If we did not solve these problems in a very short time, we would die. "

And equity investors were not the only ones who remained indifferent. owners of Tesla's debt. The 5.30% notes of the company maturing in 2025 have not changed much on Monday.

The interview, conducted Nov. 13, focused on artificial intelligence, killer drones, propaganda and the existence of a god.

"I believe there are explanations for this universe you could call God," said Musk.

Tesla covered a relatively short part of the discussion, and most of the relevant comments are available on YouTube.) At one point, Musk reviewed the long days spent on the Tesla badembly line, as the company was working on the construction of additional models.3 "dying."

Some questions that Investors could question it was not asked.) The past year has been a busy one for Tesla and Musk, who had to leave the president's seat following a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission

If the company was about to die, for example, what exactly did it mean? And when was it exactly the case? What strategic, financial or other where appropriate – apart from work on the production of model 3 – has the company explored?

Musk was also not asked about the new president of the company, Robyn Denholm, a board member appointed earlier this month.

A spokesman for Tesla said Monday morning that the company had nothing to add to the interview.

Tesla's stock is up about 9% in 2018 and is currently trading around the level reached in October following the release of its latest quarterly financial results, which impressed investors.

It seems that Musk has last seen the problems of his business.

This story has been updated since its initial publication to reflect the course of the stock price, correct the date of the interview of Axios and for the sake of clarity.

Email to David Marino-Nachison at [email protected]. Follow him at @marinonachison and follow Barron's Next at @barronsnext .