Blog

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is having a great week.

After public opinion swayed Musk’s way on his proposal to purchase Twitter earlier this week, Tesla has now announced that they made $18.8 billion in revenue during the first quarter of the year. To top it off, Musk’s The Boring Company announced a new fund raise of $675 million today.

Musk, who earns no salary in his position as Tesla boss, receives compensation packages based on a series of escalating targets linked to Tesla’s financial growth and market capitalisation. With the latest stellar Q1 results, Musk is due $23 billion from Tesla for their achievements under his command.

Tesla’s revenue of $18.8 billion beat market projections of $17.8 billion, an 81 percent increase from last year. The company’s earnings per share equated to $3.22 per share, outstripping analyst’s expectations of $2.26 per share.

Wall Street responded positively to the earnings release, as Tesla’s share price rose by 5 percent in after market trading.

The Boring Company raises $675 million

Meanwhile, Musk’s other venture aimed at reducing traffic congestion by building underground highways, has raised a mammoth new round of funding. The Boring Company is now valued at $5.7 billion. The latest round was led by Sequoia and Vy Capital, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, 8VC, Craft Ventures, and DFJ Growth.

The company says it will use the funds to hire new talent across engineering, operations, and production. Additionally, the money will be used to accelerate research and scale Prufrock, The Boring Company’s next generation tunnelling machine.

Musk says Tesla Robot will be worth more than the car business

During Tesla’s earnings call, Musk made an interesting comment that is sure to excite Tesla’s shareholders. He said the company’s robot, named Optimus, would eventually be worth more than the car business that just clocked $18.8 billion in revenue in the previous quarter. Optimus is set to be released sometime in 2023.

“I was surprised that people did not realise the magnitude of the Optimus robot program,” said Musk.

“The importance of Optimus will become apparent in the coming years. Those who are insightful or looking, listening carefully, will understand that Optimus will ultimately be worth more than the car business, worth more than FSD.”

FSD, or full-service driving, is Tesla’s advanced driver assistance technology used in their cars. A subscription costs $12,000 per year.

Optimus was first unveiled to the public at Tesla’s AI Day in August 2021, but there have been scant updates on it since.