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Elon Musk’s empire on a roll: Tesla reaps record profits as The Boring Company raises £515m

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Elon Musk has said he believes AI is “one of the biggest threats” to humanity, and that the UK’s AI Safety Summit was “timely” given the scale of the threat.

Elon Musk’s empire seems to be on a roll, as Tesla wins the hearts of drivers looking to go green and his infrastructure business The Boring Company catches the eyes of investors.

The Boring Company has raised $675m (£516m) in its latest funding round, Musk announced today, bringing the valuation to $5.7bn.

The series C round was led by giant venture capital Sequoia, and will be used to ramp up the company’s hiring across sectors to scale up projects.

“Purpose is to recruit amazing people, scale up boring machine production and build thousands of miles of tunnes,” the firm said in a tweet.

Founded in 2016 by the serial entrepreneur, the company’s aim is to “revolutionise transportation” and solve the problem of traffic.

The Boring Company made the headlines when it developed its hyperloop system Loop, competing with the likes of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop. An all-electric underground public transport system, the project is located in Las Vegas and has recently received approval to begin construction works.

“Defeating traffic is the ultimate boss battle,” Musk said. “Even the most powerful humans in the world cannot defeat traffic.”

Tesla on the up

It comes alongside a mind-blowing performance from Tesla, which today saw shares go up 6.30 per cent.

Already the world’s richest man, Musk is set to receive $23bn in three new tranches of shares as part of his compensation agreement with the car maker, which he receives instead of a salary as chief executive.

The Austin-based electric vehicle (EV) giant posted record profits of $3.3bn for the first three months of 2022, despite inflationary and war-induced headwinds.

The carmaker, which hiked its prices not long ago, also reported deliveries growing nearly 70 per cent, which it admitted could have been higher had supply chain hang-ups not curtailed production.

Tesla’s factories in China have been experiencing Covid-19 lockdowns in recent months. However, Musk’s recently opened facility in Texas, its biggest so far, is hoped to boost progress.

While the firm delivered over 310,000 cars in the first quarter, Musk – the man behind SpaceX and Starlink – expects the company to produce 60 per cent more cars this year, in comparison with 2021.

Musk last week launched a $43bn hostile takeover against Twitter, filling a proposal with the SEC to pay investors $54.20 per share. The acquisition set off a feud with the app’s board, who proposed adopting a “poison pill” to stop anyone from acquiring more than a 15 per cent stake in the company.