MW 'Hang onto your stock,' Elon Musk tells Tesla employees. He has big ambitions for robots.

By Steve Goldstein

Musk: 'I understand if you don't want to buy our product, but you don't have to burn it down.'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk late on Thursday told employees to "hang onto their stock" as he laid out a vision where Optimus humanoid robots become the top-selling product of all-time.

The address to employees was broadcast on the X social-media service he also owns.

Tesla stock $(TSLA)$ has tumbled 42% this year, as sales have fallen in Europe, weakened in China and faced pressure in its home market of the U.S., in part on the negative reaction to Musk's involvement in the Trump administration. Shares of BYD (HK:1211), its toughest rival in China, have soared 47% this year.

Tesla shares slipped 1% in premarket trade on Friday.

"If you read the news, it feels like Armageddon. I can't walk past a TV without seeing a Tesla on fire," he said. "I understand if you don't want to buy our product, but you don't have to burn it down, that's a bit unreasonable."

"And some people like Cathie Wood at Ark Invest, do see the future. So, what I'm saying is, hang onto your stock," said Musk.

Tesla's stock has now become a feature of the political battleground, with Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz saying how the Tesla stock price decline cheers him up while Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick urged investors to buy the stock on the same day his former company upgraded its rating.

Musk invoked Warren Buffett's description of the stock market being like people yelling out the price of your house every day. "And sometimes they take their meds and sometimes they don't," said Musk.

"So, Tesla stock goes up and it goes down. But actually, it's still the same company. It's just people's perception of the future," he said.

He did talk of the company's performance and its plans for the future.

Musk said that the Model Y this year will repeat the accomplishment of being the world's best-selling vehicle.

He talked of the improvements in Full Self-Driving autonomous mode and how, at the factory, the Tesla cars drive from the end of the production line in Fremont, Calif. to park themselves in a lot while waiting for delivery.

"Maybe it's worth emphasizing that it's not that Tesla Full Self-Driving will be equal to human in safety, it will be ultimately 10 times safer," he said.

So far, that's not the case, with the product needing human intervention roughly once every 13 miles in testing in California.

Musk talked of what he calls sustainable abundance. "How about a future where you can have any good or service you want, at will," he said. "What I am here to say, that will indeed be the case."

Musk said the robots the company is making, in combination with solar energy, will allow for that productivity. He's targeting 5,000 Optimus humanoid robots to be built this year. Comparing that to one Roman legion, he said Tesla will be 10 legions - so about 50,000 - next year, when Tesla employees will be given the first chance to buy the product.

"You can imagine your own personal robot buddy that is a great friend but also takes care of your house. Clean your house, will mow the lawn, will walk the dog, will teach your kids, will babysit, and will also enable the production of goods and services basically with no limit," he said.

Musk insisted that Tesla is the only company that can build intelligent humanoid robots at scale. "My prediction is that on this front is that Optimus will be the biggest product of all time by far. Nothing will even be close. It'll be, I think it'll be 10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever made," he said.

-Steve Goldstein

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March 21, 2025 05:24 ET (09:24 GMT)

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