Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, responded on Saturday to an Indian engineer who recalled how the company was on the verge of bankruptcy on Christmas Eve during the 2008 financial crisis.
“On Christmas eve 2008, Tesla funding round completed, Tesla was literally a few days from bankruptcy,@elonmuskhad to put in all his money & assets,” the engineer identified as Pranay Pathole wrote on Twitter.
Elon Musk had to borrow money from friends to pay the rent, according to him.
Musk responded to the tweet by saying that it had been a “crazy tough year.” He also recalled that Tesla’s financing ended around 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 2008, the last hour of the last day.
“Payroll would otherwise have bounced two days after Christmas,” he further replied.
Elon Musk was also congratulated by Pranay Pathole for never giving up.
That was a crazy tough year. Tesla financing closed at 6pm Christmas Eve – last hour of the last day possible. Payroll would otherwise have bounced two days after Christmas.
That was a crazy tough year. Tesla financing closed at 6pm Christmas Eve – last hour of the last day possible. Payroll would otherwise have bounced two days after Christmas.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2021
According to sources, Tesla was particularly heavily struck by the 2008 financial crisis. The company, like every other vehicle company, had to struggle to stay afloat throughout the recession years.
This wasn’t the first time Elon Musk has responded to an engineer’s tweet.
Musk had previously responded to the engineer’s tweet about doing an internship to learn more about the job. Musk had responded with some fascinating details from his time as an intern.
At the age of 18, @elonmusk conducted an internship at Nova Scotia Bank. It was there that he understood that money has low bandwidth, and therefore online money transfers between banks do not require massive infrastructure resources. Pathole claims that this understanding started him on the path to founding X.com. Musk responded with some fascinating ideas.
“I worked for Peter Nicholson, who is awesome. Mostly, we exchanged math riddles, although I did figure out a multi-billion dollar arbitrage opportunity for the bank,” Musk wrote
He also discussed another reason for leaving the organisation and starting over.
Netizens reacted positively to the tweet.
Tesla is one of the most valuable firms on the planet right now. The stocks of the US electric car manufacturer are closely followed by investors. Back in 2008, though, the situation was not nearly as dire.
The electric carmaker was in serious financial trouble as losses grew and it battled to meet key production targets for the Model 3 sedan, which quickly became the brand’s best-selling model.
