On Oct. 10, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (TSLA) is expected to present a Hollywood-style spectacle, as he will lead the highly anticipated “robotaxi event” at the Warner Brothers studio backlot.
The event itself, initially intended for August 8, is said to be a major product announcement for some of Tesla’s more ambitious projects, such as the “Cybercab” robotaxi and a possible $25,000 electric car.
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On Oct. 2, Tesla reported its delivery numbers for the third quarter of 2024, which were up 6% from the same period the year before. But despite the positive news, the numbers still slightly failed to meet analysts’ expectations.
Additionally, a new report shows that Tesla has another bombshell to drop before its marquee event.
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Sayonara to a long-time Tesla executive
According to internal sources who have spoken to Bloomberg, Tesla has lost its top data-related executive just days before it is set to hold its Robotaxi event on Oct. 10.
Tesla employees were informed that Nagesh Saldi, the automaker’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) has departed the company.
In his now-former position as CIO, Saldi reported directly to Elon Musk and was responsible for building out much of the company’s computing capacity in preparation for its big shift to artificial intelligence and robotics.
Some projects he undertook included building out Tesla data centers in Austin, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, as well as developing bespoke enterprise software known as Tesla One.
Saldi has been with Tesla since 2012, previously working for other Silicon Valley staples such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Infosys. He was elevated to the CIO position in 2018 in the midst of a production ramp-up.
The former CIO is the latest in a small exodus of key Tesla executives from their positions. Drew Baglino, the former senior vice president, and Rohan Patel, the former head of government affairs, departed from Tesla in April this year. Allie Arebalo, its former HR head, left for Musk-less pastures just a month later.
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Tesla Bulls are still believing
Despite the executive shakeup at the company, the biggest believers in Musk and Co. are still on the bandwagon going into Oct. 10.
Notoriously, the latest note from Wedbush Tesla bull Daniel Ives published Friday did not mention the executive shift, but rather relayed a message of stellar confidence for the company going into the anticipated Robotaxi event.
“We believe Robotaxi Day will be a seminal and historical day for Musk and Tesla and marks a new chapter of growth around autonomous, FSD, and AI future at Tesla,” Ives said in his note. “We continue to believe Tesla is the most undervalued AI name in the market and we expect Musk & Co. to unveil some ‘game changing’ autonomous technology at this event next week.”
He reiterated his belief that Tesla is more than “just an EV vendor” and that its push into AI and robotics will be a key turning point in the future.
“We continue to believe AI/FSD represents a $1 trillion of value alone for Tesla over the coming years,” he said. “Next week, it’s time for Musk to have a watershed unveiling event to kick this AI era off at Tesla.”
Wedbush maintained an “Outperform” rating and $300 price target for Tesla stock.
Tesla Inc. trades on the NASDAQ as TSLA and is up 3.6% Friday, trading at $249.33 per share.
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