Business figures discrepancy: Tesla is probably missing 1.4 billion US dollars

According to Tesla, the electric car company spent 6.3 billion US dollars on the purchase of property and equipment in the second half of 2024, but their value only increased by 4.9 billion US dollars during this period. So there is apparently a shortfall of 1.4 billion US dollars. The Financial Times has noted this and believes that the difference is enormous, even for a company like Tesla. Although it is not unusual for the two figures not to be congruent, the discrepancy is strikingly high. It is unclear what happened to the money. Tesla itself has not commented on the discovery. However, it is not yet impossible for the missing assets to appear later in the company's figures.

Warning signals about the financial situation?

The discrepancy was noticed in statements on cash flow that Tesla submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These also show that the anomaly is probably solely attributable to the fourth quarter of 2024. While the total value of goods owned by Tesla has mostly increased in relation to capital expenditures before, there was suddenly an unprecedented drop. This could indicate inadequate internal controls, the newspaper writes. Meanwhile, a quoted expert from the SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences points to similar warning signs of financial scandals, including the one surrounding Wirecard. The Financial Times also finds it worth mentioning that Tesla has taken on 6 billion US dollars in debt despite having 37 billion US dollars in assets.

The British newspaper's report comes at an inopportune time for Tesla. The company is struggling with a huge decline in sales, especially in Europe. This has also been reflected on the stock market for weeks, where Tesla shares have fallen by more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year compared to the all-time high reached shortly before. Despite this, Elon Musk's company is still worth significantly more than some of the largest car manufacturers combined. However, a turnaround is also unlikely because Elon Musk is apparently not thinking of changing anything in his role as a confidant of US President Donald Trump in the massive restructuring of the US state apparatus, even though this would damage Tesla's image.

(mho)