Evidently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn’t think very much of The Economist.
Tesla stock spiked 2% after Musk blasted out a snarky tweet at the business publication early Friday morning, predicting a profitable, cash flow positive Tesla in the second half of 2018. The mini-spat was set off by a story TheEconomist tweeted out, citing investment bank Jeffries’ prediction that Tesla would have to raise $2.5 to $3 billion this year.
“The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now it’s just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money,” wrote Musk in his tweet.
The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now it’s just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2018
Whether or not Musk’s bullishness is warranted is an open question. Tesla is carrying a heavy debt burden, fueled in part by its costly acquisition of SolarCity, a purchase that came with a $2.9 billion debt load. Tesla is also burning through piles of cash as it attempts to land its production targets for the Model 3 electric sedan (the automaker portion of Tesla holds the majority of its debt).
Tesla shipped about 4,360 units of the Model 3, meant to be its mass market darling, from January through February. The company missed its Model 3 guidance for 2017.