Tesla short seller warns of ‘massive’ supply-chain risk

Bloomberg

Short seller Fahmi Quadir, who’s betting against Tesla Inc., said the carmaker faces risks to its supply chain because some vendors haven’t been getting paid.
Quadir, the founder and chief investment officer of Safkhet Capital LP, made a name for herself by shorting the drugmaker formerly known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals around its peak in 2015. She said her firm sees some suppliers to Tesla filing for bankruptcy, which poses particular risk to the carmaker because many of its components are single-sourced.
“We question the ability for Tesla to actually deliver on their promises to their customers when they’re on the brink of potentially a massive supply-chain disruption,” Quadir said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We see very little contingency planning, and we also see executives from the supply chain department departing in recent weeks and months.’’ A Tesla spokesman declined to comment on Quadir’s remarks. The company has
said previously that it regularly reviews whether suppliers are meeting all their obligations
and that this can lead to payment delays. Tesla also downplayed the significance of it requesting more time to pay vendors by calling it a common industry practice.
Tesla shares were trading higher early and dropped following Quadir’s comments. The stock fell as much as 3.7 percent to $254.06 as of 12:55 p.m. in New York. The stock is down about 18 percent this year.
Quadir, 28, didn’t identify any suppliers or vendors by name. She wasn’t specific about who had recently left Tesla’s supply chain department though Bloomberg News reported last month that Liam O’Connor, vice president of global supply management, had resigned.