Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP Photo Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
- Tesla continues to burn through cash at a staggering rate.
- It could run out of money before the end of the year.
- Tesla's vulnerable balance sheet is the ugly reality behind the carmaker's glamorous image.
Bloomberg reports that Tesla is burning through $6,500 a minute.
That's alarmingly impressive for a relatively small, young carmaker that's preparing to announce first-quarter earnings that are expected to be staggeringly negative.
For the record, all car companies blow though huge piles of cash. It's the nature of the business. But they don't tend to perpetually lose money; Tesla hasn't posted a yearly profit since its 2010 IPO.
All eyes are on Tesla's prospects of actually running out of cash before the end of year. The company has about $3.5 billion on hand, plus lines of credit. CEO Elon Musk says no capital raise is coming and that Tesla will start to bring in more than it spends later in 2018.
That's optimistic. Here's what could go wrong:
Get the latest Tesla stock price here.