It looks like a deja vu movie.
In 2018, Elon Musk revealed that he was sleeping in the Tesla factory in California, where the automaker was having the worst difficulty in the world to mass-produce the Model 3 sedan, its entry-level vehicle.
Musk then appeared erratic in interviews. He had smoked a joint live on a podcast show with controversial celebrity Joe Rogan.
"This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he told the New York Times back then. "It was excruciating.”
'This Is Not Good'
The newspaper noted that he choked up multiple times during the interview. He said that the exhaustion was taking a toll on his physical health.
"It’s not been great, actually. I’ve had friends come by who are really concerned," the billionaire said, unveiling that he was working up to 120 hours at the time.
"There were times when I didn’t leave the factory for three or four days — days when I didn’t go outside,” he said. "This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. And seeing friends.”
In another interview the same year, the Techno King, as he's known at Tesla (TSLA), asserted "no one should put this many hours into work." "This is not good. It was very painful. It hurts my brain and my heart," he added.
A little over four years later, it seems that the same scenario is repeating itself. The tech mogul just revealed that the past few months have been "extremely tough."
"Last 3 months were extremely tough, as had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties," the billionaire wrote on Feb. 5, as a comment of an article of the Wall Street Journal that chronicles his challenges. "Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone."
"Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it."
Musk then did what he rarely does: he asks for everyone's support.
"Public support is much appreciated!"
'I Work All Day'
It was then that a Twitter user asked if the current period was as bad as 2008.
"Worse than 2008 or production hell?" the user asked.
"Similar," the billionaire responded.
"Please be safe& take care, the world needs you, Elon," commented another Twitter user.
"I’m worried about me too," the billionaire responded.
Since the end of October and the finalization of his acquisition of Twitter, the billionaire has been involved in five major companies. Three of them -- Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter -- play highly symbolic roles in their respective fields of activity. The other two companies are Neuralink and The Boring Company.
He thus found himself with several challenges to overcome. The very first is to make Twitter profitable as soon as possible because he has gone into debt to the tune of $13 billion to finance the deal which cost him $44 billion.
Besides running these companies, Musk also had to face two civil trials in which he testified. In one of the trials, Tesla investors accused him of fraud over tweets from 2018 in which he claimed to have secured funds to take Tesla private. He was acquitted on Feb. 3 by a jury in this case. The other lawsuit concerns the generous compensation package granted to him by Tesla. The verdict in this case is still awaited.
Juggle between processes while carrying out all the projects of its companies at the same time would be nearly impossible for many entrepreneurs, but for Musk.
To understand the physical and moral exhaustion in which the billionaire finds himself, it is necessary to refer to his schedule which he revealed a few days ago. And this one shows that Musk has been working non-stop for several months.
"I work all day, then go home & play work simulator," he revealed on Jan. 27.
Two days earlier, one of his fans had summed up one of his recent days.
"Morning- Attended the court. Evening- Tesla Nevada Factory Event. Night- Worked with Tesla A.I. Team until late night. #Respect @elonmusk," the Twitter user tweeted on Jan. 25.
"And then was at Twitter HQ past midnight. Very long day," the billionaire responded.
Twitter users are thus accustomed to seeing the entrepreneur post messages late at night or in the early morning.
"I was just reviewing the production beta Cybertruck. It is incredible," Musk tweeted on Feb. 1 at 12:36 am.
