The world’s richest man Elon Musk said on Monday he was working “at the absolute most amount…from morning til night, seven days a week” when queried about his recent takeover of social media platform Twitter and his leadership of automaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).
“I have too much work on my plate that is for sure,” Musk said by videolink to a business conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.
Musk is the CEO of both companies and runs rocket firm SpaceX, tunneling firm called the Boring Company, and brain-chip startup Neuralink. Wearing a batik shirt sent by the organizers, he was seen on screen lit by candles, explaining that he was speaking from a place that had just experienced a power outage.
Tesla investors are concerned that Musk, a self-proclaimed “nanomanager” who has been personally included in working-level decisions from car styling to supply chain issues, is distracted at a crucial time for the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker.
Tesla’s shares have lost half their value since early April, when he announced he had amassed a stake in Twitter. His Tesla share sales, including another $4 billion a week ago to bring his Twitter-related sales to $20 billion, have escalated the pressure.
When questioned about the complexity of industrial supply chains “decoupling” from China and the risks from Russia’s war in Ukraine, Musk referred back to how busy he was.
Responding to an observation that a lot of business leaders in Asia wished to be the “Elon Musk of the East,” Musk said: “I’d be careful what you wish for. I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me. They would like to be what they imagine being me, which is not the same thing as actually being me. The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly.”
Musk also said he intended to see Twitter support more video and longer-form videos so that content creators could earn a living on the platform, but did not give details. His remarks were aired live on Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube.
Indonesia has been attempting to clinch a deal with Tesla on battery investment and probably one for SpaceX to build a rocket launch site.
Musk did not commit to either of those but said Indonesia had a huge role to play in the electric vehicle supply chain and that it would make sense “long term” for SpaceX to have several launch points across the world.
Buy Crypto NowIt was not evident where Musk was during the Bali event. His private jet has remained in Austin, Texas, Tesla’s headquarters since the weekend, according to @ElonJet, a Twitter account that keeps tabs on Musk’s Gulfstream G650.
“I’m just looking at this video and it’s so bizarre,” Musk said. “I’m sitting here in the dark surrounded by candles.”
Musk added he was convinced that the economy would make the shift to sustainable energy, adding it was “just a question of how long it takes.” He said space exploration should continue to be a priority “so we can understand the nature of the universe and our place in it.”
“Maybe we’ll find alien civilizations or discover civilizations that existed millions of years ago, but we see the ruins of ancient civilizations. I think that would be incredibly interesting,” he said.
