Tesla Stock Rising Above $800 After Hours, Elon Musk Expanding Solar Roof Team

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk recently gave an ad searching for workers.

Tesla is ramping up Solar Roof installation across the USA! Training will be provided, so no prior experience needed. Apply at https://t.co/84BkZvuBn8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 16, 2020

Be it as it may, the truth is that even with a record fourth quarter for its solar energy and storage systems business, Tesla’s energy revenue fell by more than $24 million in 2019.

Now, the company found itself under pressure to get the business going again. In its earnings report last week, the company said that it’s trying to boost solar photovoltaic production at its plant in Buffalo, New York.

It said:

“We have recently started manufacturing solar panels at this facility in collaboration with Panasonic.”

One thing is sure: Musk definitely has to broaden the number of employees at the Buffalo plant, so-called Gigafactory 2. If Tesla fails to hire exactly 1,460 people there in April, it will have to pay a $41.2 million penalty to the state of New York or get an exemption.

The mayor of Buffalo said:

“The diversity of the hires was impressive. There was a great cross-section of people from across the city and across the region that were working in the facility.”

He also added that he is confident that Tesla will reach its contractual hiring target.

Elon Musk on the Court for SolarCity

However, we shouldn’t forget the fact that Musk is currently battling Tesla’s shareholders, who sued the automaker in 2017 over its $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity. They say the deal should never be done and called it a bailout of Musk and his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, who actually started SolarCity.

Musk was co-founding chairman of SolarCity and its biggest shareholder at the time of the acquisition. The company said last year that all the accusations were “based on the claims of plaintiff’s lawyers looking for a payday, and are not representative of our shareholders.”

Tesla Offering $2 Billion in Common Stocks

Last week the company said it will offer $2 billion in common stocks in order to “to further strengthen its balance sheet, as well as for general corporate purpose”.

Musk said he will purchase stocks worth $10 million in this offering, while the firm’s board member Larry Ellison intends to buy up to $1 million in stocks, according to the statement.

Last month Tesla (TSLA) stock closed above a $100 billion market capitalization for the first time in its history. Moreover, it has even reached the $150 billion level. That started a clock on its CEO Elon Musk receiving the first tier of a potentially massive payday. The main point was that TSLA stock price had to stay high enough in order to keep that valuation for the next six months.

If that happens, Elon Musk is allowed to unlock stock options that could net him $346 million. And as a result, Elon Musk will become the richest man in the world, surpassing current Amazon CEOJeff Bezos.

By the arrangement, the top target will be paid out if Tesla reaches a market value of $650 billion. That would mean that the carmaker would become more worthy than all but four U.S. companies including Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Google‘s parent Alphabet (GOOG).

Tesla stock closed down 0.49% at $800.03 on Friday. On Monday the U.S. markets are not working for the Presidents’ Day. The after the closing price is $802.

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