Double whammy for Elon Musk. The embattled CEO, who has mostly been focused on his recent $700 million payday, the bizarre naming of his newborn child and an upcoming second appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast (because the first one went so well) now officially has zero vehicle production lines up and running.
Fremont has been shut down as a result of an ongoing lockdown in Alameda County but now the company's Shanghai plant is also shut down, according to Bloomberg. The company told workers to extend their ongoing Labor Day break for a couple of days and didn't make clear why it was doing so.
One Chinese technology news site speculated that component shortages could be the reason for the shut down. In addition to having trouble sourcing some parts, there was also talk about a piece of manufacturing equipment being fixed.
Some employees remain on site for equipment inspection, maintenance and repair, according to Bloomberg. Tesla says it is conducting "normal maintenance work" and that the company was taking advantage of the holiday schedule to make adjustments. The holidays were officially from May 1 to May 5.
Back in California, Tesla was rumored yesterday to be preparing to spin up its Fremont factory again, potentially in violation of the county's shelter-in-place orders.
Recall, just days ago we noted that Musk had qualified for a $700 million stock based compensation award that we highlighted last week, just days after Musk hacked more than $10 billion off his own stock price by Tweeting that he thought the share price was "too high".
Regardless, Tesla's average trailing market cap topped $100 billion for the last 6 months on average, making Musk eligible for 1.69 million shares that he can exercise at $350.02 per share. With Tesla stock around $765, this would net Musk somewhere in the realm of $700 million.
Musk's pay package is the "largest corporate pay deal ever struck between a CEO and a board of directors," according to Bloomberg.
The massive payday comes despite the litany of operational issues of the months past, including shutting down Fremont for the coronavirus, laying off hundreds of contractors and staff and putting himself on the hook for his own board's D&O insurance.
And now, with zero production of vehicles happening worldwide.
