Tesla springs last-minute public all hands on staffers, confusion ensues

• Tesla announced an all-hands meeting with short notice, causing some employee confusion.
• Tesla said the meeting aims to discuss Tesla's recent achievements.
• Tesla's unusual timing and deleted livestream link added to employee confusion.

Tesla notified employees of an all-hands shortly before the event, according to a memo viewed by Business Insider.

The company sent employees a link to a Teams chat and an X livestream on Thursday night with the message "Join the Company All Hands to hear about Tesla's recent achievements and how we're making the impossible possible."

The event was set to kick off at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Some workers expressed confusion about the event and the short notice for the company meeting, according to Teams messages viewed by BI. Typically, Tesla hosts all-hands during regular work hours, and it is the first all-hands the carmaker has streamed publicly.

"It feels a bit hasty. No one was expecting this tonight and we're all just trying to catch up," a Tesla engineer told BI, adding that some employees heard about the event on social media first and were questioning whether it was real.

Another worker told BI the event felt like a "publicity stunt."

"This is for the investors, not the workers," the employee said.

Adding to the confusion, Tesla posted a livestream link before the event was set to kick off, only to end the livestream and delete it about 30 minutes later. During the livestream, a man's voice could be heard saying several seemingly random things, including "Dylan on stage" and "Stock parts. Joe. That's the best I can do."

Some workers said they tried to access the livestream but the link on X didn't work, as Tesla sent a link to a livestream that had been deleted.

Tesla restarted a new livestream shortly before 9:30 p.m. ET, but the livestream remained silent for nearly 30 minutes.

Elon Musk tweeted a link to the event at 9:45 p.m. ET.

Three minutes later, the livestream was still silent and Musk had responded to a tweet claiming to show a generational shift in political attitudes among white men with "Wow."

The event began streaming at 9:58 p.m. ET. Musk's private jet arrived in Austin just two hours before he addressed workers in the Texas Gigafactory.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The carmaker has been facing headwinds in recent months. Tesla's stock is down more than 37% year-to-date and a series of protests have erupted across Tesla sales and service centers over the past few weeks.

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