Topline
Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla rose over 5% on Monday—making billionaire CEO Elon Musk $12 billion billion richer—after he urged employees to reduce delivery costs and amid reports that the company will start production at its Gigafactory in Germany within the next few days.
The Tesla chief saw his net worth approach $300 billion as shares of his electric vehicle maker … [+]
Matt Rourke/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key Facts
Tesla’s stock is on the move again, up more than 5% so far on Monday and now sitting at around $1,134 per share.
Shares of the electric vehicle maker are rallying on news that Tesla will soon begin production at its first European factory in Germany, a major step for the company as it looks to ramp up production capacity.
German automotive news site Automobilwoche reported on Monday Tesla’s new manufacturing facility in the country is expected to be granted environmental permits and will start production within the next few days.
Production was originally slated to begin in summer of 2021, but construction on the factory had been delayed due to opposition from environmental activists.
Tesla has previously said its factory near Berlin includes new manufacturing technologies, namely the company’s new giga press—a die casting machine which further automates and streamlines the manufacturing process.
The electric vehicle maker’s stock is also rising on the back of a recent memo that CEO Elon Musk sent out to employees over the weekend, in which he urged them to “focus on minimizing cost of deliveries” instead of rushing orders out to meet sales targets.
Big number: $294.4 Billion
That’s how much Musk is now worth, according to Forbes’ estimates. The richest person in the world saw his fortune rise by $12 billion as of 1 p.m. ET on Monday thanks to Tesla’s stock surge.
Tangent:
Musk sold nearly $10 billion worth of Tesla stock in November—putting him more than halfway through his Twitter poll-backed promise to sell 10% of his stake in the electric vehicle company.
Key Background:
Tesla has continued to grow sales and earnings at a fast clip—not to mention reaching new milestones in recent quarters. While the company delivered a total of 500,000 vehicles in 2020, Tesla has recently struggled to deliver new cars to U.S. customers on time, with months-long delays reported in some cases. The stock is up 56% so far in 2021 and the company has a market valuation of $1.14 trillion.
