In an interview given to the Silicon Valley Tesla Owners Club, Elon Musk admits to hating being CEO and that he would gladly give his place to someone else. To support his point, he tells how 2008 was a very difficult year, in particular because of the failed launches of SpaceX and the impact of the economic crisis.
“I don’t like being a CEO”, admits Elon Musk during an interview given to the Silicon Valley Tesla Owners Club. A somewhat surprising statement from the billionaire who runs several companies and seems to want to launch a new project every year, but which he explains by his desire to be “responsible for product issues, such as technology and design”.
However, he affirms it loud and clear: he would gladly leave his place to whoever wants. Is it because of the scandals caused regularly by his tweets? Or the pressure related to his responsibilities? It would seem that the reason is above all – surprise – financial. Indeed, to support his point, the billionaire recounts his first years as CEO of Tesla, and in particular the year 2008 which was a real ” nightmare ” for him.
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Elon Musk would leave his position as CEO to someone else
Elon Musk thus explains that 2008 was the year of a third failure for the launch of a SpaceX rocket. However, the company only had enough funds for three trials. During this time, the economic crisis broke out and had a lasting impact on the finances of the billionaire, who then found himself forced to dip into the 40 million dollars affected thanks to the sale of PayPal to relaunch his businesses.
What about Tesla? At that time, the company’s cash flow was also in bad shape, while production was still far from starting. In the end, everything will end well for Elon Musk, who explains that “if the fourth [lancement] had failed, SpaceX would be definitively doomed. » If today the CEO is particularly optimistic, the reality seems quite different. Since last year, SpaceX has been on the verge of bankruptcy, while Tesla is preparing to lay off 10,000 employees for economic reasons.
Source: ithome