The fallout from Elon Musk’s plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business, with both sales and profits dropping sharply again in the latest quarter.
The car company, which has faced months of boycotts, said today that revenue dropped 12% and profits slumped 16% in the three months through June as buyers continued to stay away.
Quarterly profits at the electric vehicle, battery and robotics company fell to US$1.17 billion (NZ$1.93 billion), or 33 cents a share (NZ$0.55), down from US$1.4 billion (NZ$2.31 billion), or 40 cents a share (NZ$0.66). That marked the third consecutive quarter of declining profit.
Revenue also fell, dropping from US$25.5 billion (NZ$42.08 billion) to US$22.5 billion (NZ$37.13 billion) in the April through June period — though that was still slightly above Wall Street’s forecast.
Musk and politics
Elon Musk has previously said he’s formed a new political party, but it was unclear what steps – if any – he’d taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections.
The possible new political party marked another development in the rift between Musk and US President Donald Trump over the Republican’s sweeping tax cuts law, which the tech billionaire called “insane”.
The fissures between Trump and his one-time top surrogate and Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutter-in-chief have exposed not only the fragile nature of relations between two of the country’s most visible personalities but also the potential political consequences of disagreeing with the priorities of either man.
The squabble could be particularly costly for Musk, whose businesses rely on billions of dollars in government contracts.