Elon Musk told overworked staff that they had no right to complain because “I can be on my own private island with naked supermodels, drinking mai tais — but I’m not”, in one of many foul-mouthed tirades, according to a new book.
For years, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX has been on a mission to build a commercially viable electric car. As he threw himself into realising his dream and forming a multibillion-dollar company, however, staff contended with outbursts and on-the-spot firings, according to Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century.
Musk, 50, who has faced criticism for his communication style with employees, allegedly made the supermodel remark in 2016 during development of the Model X SUV in Fremont, California, where workers were in “revolt” after being forced to work weekends at short notice.
“I’m in the factory working my ass off, so I don’t want to hear about how hard everyone else in the factory works,” Musk shouted at an executive who had argued the workers’ case. He also told staff to “get that guy the f*** out of here” after quarrelling with a car dealership lobbyist, the book, by the journalist Tim Higgins, reports.
The conflicts at Tesla, the book says, were part of Musk’s “relentless drive” to produce an affordable electric car, under which he would also pull all-nighters, do media interviews in a T-shirt he had worn for three days, and sleep on the factory floor.
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After problems with the production of the Model 3 in 2018, Musk “summoned to a conference room a group of engineers who were focused on making the assembly line work”, Higgins wrote. He then “stormed in and proceeded to tell them all that their work was ‘complete shit’. He ordered each person to go around the room and tell him ‘who the f*** you are and what the f*** you’re doing to fix my goddamn line’.’’
The outbursts forced staff to keep track of Musk’s personal life to “anticipate” his fluctuating moods, the book claims. The billionaire inventor has six children by two women and is dating the Canadian musician Grimes. The pair have a baby boy named X AE A-Xii, pronounced “X Ash A-12”.
In 2016, he was in a relationship with the actress Amber Heard, previously married to Johnny Depp. Musk was so infatuated with Heard, the book claims, that he would fly to Australia, where she was filming, for a few hours in her company, before returning to the US.
Musk would also fire staff on a whim, Higgins said. In 2007, he instructed Martin Eberhard, the co-founder of Tesla, to “fire all of them. Every one of them” after growing furious at his Detroit team. Eberhard ignored the demand; he was later pushed out himself.
On social media, Musk denied many of the claims in Power Play, writing: “Higgins managed to make his book both false *and* boring.”
