In 2018, He Was Sleeping On The Factory Floor As His Company Kept Missing Production Targets. Less Than 3 Years Later, Tesla Shareholders Had Made Over 13 Times Their Money, And Elon Musk Was The Richest Man In The World.
247wallst.com Sep 26, 2026

In 2018, He Was Sleeping On The Factory Floor As His Company Kept Missing Production Targets. Less Than 3 Years Later, Tesla Shareholders Had Made Over 13 Times Their Money, And Elon Musk Was The Richest Man In The World.

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

In April 2018 Elon Musk admitted he was sleeping on the floor of Tesla’s Fremont plant as the company struggled to meet its Model 3 production target of 2,500 units per week, achieving only 2,020. Musk described the year as “the most difficult and painful” of his career, and Wall Street closely tracked the shortfall as a warning sign for revenue forecasts. During that week Tesla’s split‑adjusted share price hovered between $17.84 and $20.38. Over the next three years the company executed a 5‑for‑1 stock split in August 2020 and a 3‑for‑1 split in August 2022, after which the adjusted price rose to about $264.51 by January 2021. On 7 January 2021 Musk overtook Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, and shareholders who held through the period saw their investment multiply more than thirteenfold.

💡 Why It Matters

  • · The dramatic turnaround illustrates how operational crises can precede exponential shareholder gains, underscoring the risk‑reward calculus for investors betting on turnaround narratives.