Well, now we know Tesla's Elon Musk can apologize. Speaking during a post-earnings report conference call Wednesday, the company's CEO first took questions from two analysts he had dismissed three months earlier, at which time he called their questions "boring" and "bonehead."
The market shares of the company reacted immediately that time by plunging following the shareholder conference call. Tesla's market shares are generally considered to be specifically sensitive to company's publicity and its CEO's behavior. A similar effect took place when Musk came under scrutiny for calling a Thai diver who helped rescuing trapped children a "pedo."
"My apologies for not being polite on the prior call," Musk said, as he took first questions from the same analysts he dismissed earlier. The CEO blamed his earlier behavior in part on a lack of sleep and overwork.
"I appreciate that," said Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, in response. "Thank you."
The market reacted immediately by sending the company's shares north 8.5 percent Wednesday, adding some $4.75 billion to the stock's value.
KeyBanc Capital Markets called it "maybe the most valuable apology of all time," according to a report by CNBC.
The car maker's earnings per share loss in the second quarter of 2018 came out to $3.06, which is worse than the $2.92 figure predicted by analysts. However, the company still believes the third and fourth quarters will be profitable.
Tesla says it aims to produce 6,000 Tesla Model 3 cars per week, a tempo it expects to achieve by the end of this month.
