Car maker’s CEO cuts off two analysts after they ask about capital requirements and Model 3 reservations; ‘boring, bonehead questions are not cool’
Elon Musk wanted to talk about the future of Tesla Inc. TSLA -0.31% —self-driving cars, its next all-electric sport-utility vehicle and opening a factory in China.
What he didn’t seem eager to discuss with analysts on Wednesday’s quarterly conference call was the state of the business, after the Silicon Valley auto maker burned through about $1 billion during the first quarter as production struggles beset the Model 3 sedan.
Chief executives of publicly traded companies typically grit their teeth and coolly dance around pointed questions during these calls. Mr. Musk, known to defy convention, chose instead to spar with analysts over their “boring, bonehead” questions, cutting off two of them after they asked about Tesla’s capital requirements and Model 3 reservations.