Tesla held its annual company shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, announcing its plans for the year—and revealing it intends to break into traditional advertising for the first time.
Key Details
- CEO Elon Musk made several announcements, including plans to ramp up production on Cybertrucks this year with as many as 250,000 units.
- He also discussed three new models—including a potential Roadster sports car and two mass-market models.
- A notable change for the company will be that it is shifting into advertising for the first time, Reuters reports.
- Tesla has thus far avoided traditional advertising as existing demand proved plentiful. Still, Musk says, “We’ll try out a little advertising and see how it goes” to address sales and profitability issues.
- Tesla stock has seen a 4.7% bump since its Tuesday morning low before the meeting.
Why It’s News
Elon Musk is under intense pressure to turnaround his flagship company this year following severe valuation and productivity issues that emerged under his tenure. Musk has his hands full as the CEO of five companies—Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, Boring Company, and Twitter—and investors have leveled allegations against him that he is overcommitted and unable to meet his commitments. Tesla saw a 69.1% valuation drop in 2022, while used Tesla prices saw a precipitious fall in value amid lower demand.
Musk denied rumors that he will be stepping down as CEO under pressure from investors, telling the meeting that the rumors “ain’t so.” He did face criticism from investors for moving the annual meeting from August to May, a move they allege was made to minimize shareholder concerns and complaints amid a challenging year, The New York Times reports.
With the recent hiring of NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO, Musk assured his investors that the past six months of distraction was an aberration and that he will have more time and attention to dedicate to Tesla going forward.
“There was a short-term distraction because I had to do major open-heart surgery on Twitter to ensure the company’s survival. [Now that Twitter is in a] stable place … the amount of time that Twitter will take going forward is relatively small compared to the last six months,” says Musk.
Shareholders at the meeting asked Musk pointedly about his lack of advertising.