Some Tesla employees are disappointed that Elon Musk isn't taking the company private: 'We have so much external pressure'
- Several Tesla employees told Business Insider they were on board with Elon Musk's plan to take the company private, and one indicated she was disappointed Musk was abandoning the plan.
- The employees believed that going private would remove the pressure to hit quarterly expectations, echoing what Musk had told them in an email.
- One employee shrugged off the whiplash-inducing change in strategy, saying that's just part of working at Tesla.
- We spoke with 42 Tesla employees about what it's really like to work for one of the world's most ambitious companies. In a word: intense.
Like watching a tornado on a TV, Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plans to take the company private whirled into view and almost immediately out of it, causing some emotional reactions and possible fall-out from the SEC, but ultimately changing nothing.
Yet while the short-lived effort to go private caused consternation among investors, Musk's plan appears to have had support among some Tesla employees.
Business Insider spoke with several employees about the go-private plan, and they were, for the most part, on board, saying they hoped going private would take the pressure off of them to make various high-bar production numbers on a quarterly basis.
"I do think it would be great in many ways to go private," Marco Batra, a field service operations manager, said. "I think it's an opportunity, not so much to get out of the limelight - we'll always be in the limelight - but to really plan, that long-term master plan."
Once the go-private plan was off the table, Batra told us he was happy to stay public because "it keeps us accountable for being profitable and accountable for the numbers we have committed to for at least the next two quarters."
Read the full story: 70-hour weeks and 'WTF' emails: 42 employees reveal the frenzy of working at Tesla under the 'cult' of Elon Musk
To recap: On August 7, Musk shocked the business and automotive worlds with a surprise tweet during business hours, saying: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."
That tweet landed Musk in more than a little hot water as it became clear later that he didn't have the funding, or even a real deal, on the table. By August 24, Musk did an about-face, telling his board that he'd changed his mind and that Tesla would stay public, as he explained in a blog post.
The same sentiment - that going private would remove the pressure to hit short-term goals - was echoed by George Stewart, a production lead at the Gigafactory, who told us he was "a huge proponent" of going private.
"The idea that you have to hit these deadlines on a quarterly basis ... you could strategize better without these made-up deadlines. We are producing at extremely high levels, but we are also pushing it as hard as we possibly can. So removing the deadline will be in our best interest," Stewart said before he knew the deal was a no-go.
Jennifer Lew, a robotics engineering manager who has been with Tesla for over four years, agreed with Stewart. She expressed some disappointment that the take-private deal was off the table.
"I like that he would make it private," she had told Business Insider before learning that the strategy was off. "We have so much external pressure that it makes us really shortsighted. That's what Elon said in his email, and I agree."
After hearing Tesla would stay public she told us: "It is what it is. As long as we figure out a way to look at long-term goals for Tesla, instead of going quarter to quarter, that's what I want." And she added that a benefit of staying public was that she kept the ease and flexibility of selling her shares.
'I love the transparency'
Lew, like the other Tesla employees we talked to, was on board with the sentiment that Musk expressed in an email he initially sent to employees when he was first considering the deal.
In the email, Musk explained his motivations for going private: "Basically, I'm trying to accomplish an outcome where Tesla can operate at its best, free from as much distraction and short-term thinking as possible, and where there is as little change for all of our investors, including all of our employees, as possible."
That email also kicked at the shins of investors who have shorted the stock, something that Musk has publicly groused about repeatedly, writing, "As the most shorted stock in the history of the stock market, being public means that there are large numbers of people who have the incentive to attack the company."
The employees we spoke with weren't hung up on the short-sellers. Some were confused by all the take-private talk anyway, not understanding how it might affect them.
"Going private - I heard about it, and I understand some of it, and don't understand it," Miguel Carrera, a manufacturing technician, said.
Several employees also said they didn't realize that one of the biggest investors in this take-private deal might be Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest producers of oil, the very industry Tesla is trying to disrupt, not to mention its appalling track record on human rights.
Musk didn't mention the Saudis in his email to the troops, though in the public statement later published on Tesla's website, he did talk about the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund as a prospective major investor for a deal.
The employees we spoke with weren't in love with the idea of working for the Saudis. We heard about their reservations on everything from how their ownership could affect employee benefits to simply not being thrilled about the association.
As to feeling whiplash from this massive change in strategy, Batra shrugged it off, saying he was happy that Musk blurts out his thoughts and half-baked plans in tweets and emails.
"I love the transparency," he said. "I don't feel like there's any sort of behind-the-scenes, secret stuff happening, because Elon will just email the whole crew."
And change is the one constant at Tesla. "Part of being at Tesla is an ability to pivot to change," he said.
Are you an insider with a story to tell about Tesla? We want to hear it. Contact me at jbort@businessinsider.com.