• Tesla CEOElon Musk said on Wednesday that there is “merit” to the idea of raising new funds.
• “At this point, I do think there is some merit to raising capital,” he said during Tesla‘s first-quarter earnings call. “This is probably about the right timing.”
• Tesla ended the first quarter with $US2.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents, down $US1.5 billion from the end of 2018.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that there is “merit” to the idea of raising new funds.

“At this point, I do think there is some merit to raising capital,” he said during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call. “This is probably about the right timing.”

But Musk said the electric-car maker cannot lean on outside funds at the expense of financial discipline.

“I don’t think raising capital should be a substitute for making the company operate more effectively,” Musk said.

Read more:
Tesla posts huge loss, says deliveries are still on track despite ‘aggressive schedule’

Musk added that Tesla has become more efficient in its spending during the past year.

“I think Tesla today is a far more efficiently operating organisation than it was a year ago,” he said. “We’ve made dramatic improvements across the board.”

Tesla ended the first quarter with $US2.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents, down $US1.5 billion from the end of 2018. The company secured a loan of up to $US521 million in March for the construction of its upcoming factory in Shanghai, and last issued new shares of its stock in 2017.

Tesla reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. The company posted a loss of $US2.90 per share (analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a loss of $US1.30 per share) on revenue of $US4.54 billion (the analysts polled by Bloomberg predicted $US4.84 billion in revenue).

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