Rashid Umar Abbasi / Reuters
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that there is "merit" to the idea of raising new funds.
- "At this point, I do think there is some merit to raising capital," he said during Tesla‘s first-quarter earnings call. "This is probably about the right timing."
- Tesla ended the first quarter with $2.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents, down $1.5 billion from the end of 2018.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that there is "merit" to the idea of raising new funds.
"At this point, I do think there is some merit to raising capital," he said during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call. "This is probably about the right timing."
But Musk said the electric-car maker cannot lean on outside funds at the expense of financial discipline.
"I don’t think raising capital should be a substitute for making the company operate more effectively," Musk said.
Read more: Tesla posts huge loss, says deliveries are still on track despite ‘aggressive schedule’
Musk added that Tesla has become more efficient in its spending during the past year.
"I think Tesla today is a far more efficiently operating organization than it was a year ago," he said. "We’ve made dramatic improvements across the board."
Tesla ended the first quarter with $2.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents, down $1.5 billion from the end of 2018. The company secured a loan of up to $521 billion in March for the construction of its upcoming factory in Shanghai, and last issued new shares of its stock in 2017.
Tesla reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. The company posted a loss of $2.90 per share (analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a loss of $1.30 per share) on revenue of $4.54 billion (the analysts polled by Bloomberg predicted $4.84 billion in revenue).
Have you worked for Tesla? Do you have a story to share? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com.
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- Read more:
- Tesla just reported an abysmal quarter with Model S and Model X sales falling off a cliff
Elon Musk says Tesla will begin offering its own insurance to customers next month - Tesla has achieved one of its biggest goals by delivering the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3 — but the company has been oddly quiet about it
- Tesla announced improved battery ranges for the Model S and Model X and brought back the lower-cost version of both cars
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- Elon Musk says Tesla will begin offering its own insurance to customers next month
- Tesla has achieved one of its biggest goals by delivering the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3 — but the company has been oddly quiet about it
- Nvidia fires back at Tesla’s claim that it created the world’s best chip for self-driving cars
SEE ALSO: Ford will invest $500 million in Tesla rival Rivian, joining Amazon and going head-to-head with GM
Source: Business Insider – mmatousek@businessinsider.com (Mark Matousek)