AI illustration: Tesla profitable & cash flow positive in Q3 and Q4 2018
TeslaBusiness & Money
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Tesla profitable & cash flow positive in Q3 and Q4 2018

“The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now it's just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money.”
— Elon Musk · Apr 13, 2018 · Elon Musk on Twitter, April 13 2018, replying to The Economist (verified via publish.x.com oEmbed) ↗
What actually happened

Delivered — at the time one of his most doubted calls. Tesla posted GAAP net income of $312M with $881M free cash flow in Q3 2018 and $139M net income in Q4 2018, its first back-to-back profitable quarters ever. (The 'no need to raise money' half held only briefly: Tesla raised ~$2.7 billion in May 2019.) CNBC — Tesla posts blowout Q3 2018 profit, shares surge ↗

The Progression

Apr 13, 2018
The promise: “The Economist used to be boring, but smart with a wicked dry wit. Now it's just boring (sigh). Tesla will be profitable & cash flow+ in Q3 & Q4, so obv no need to raise money.” · Elon Musk on Twitter, April 13 2018, replying to The Economist (verified via publish.x.com oEmbed) ↗
Jan 30, 2019
Delivered — 30 days late. Delivered — at the time one of his most doubted calls. Tesla posted GAAP net income of $312M with $881M free cash flow in Q3 2018 and $139M net income in Q4 2018, its first back-to-back profitable quarters ever. (The 'no need to raise money' half held only briefly: Tesla raised ~$2.7 billion in May 2019.) CNBC — Tesla posts blowout Q3 2018 profit, shares surge ↗
Today · Jun 12, 2026
Status: Delivered · 30 days late. It happened.

In April 2018, mid-production-hell, with Tesla burning cash and analysts predicting a multi-billion-dollar capital raise, Musk tweeted at The Economist that Tesla would be profitable and cash-flow positive in both Q3 and Q4 2018 with no need to raise money. Wall Street openly scoffed — and Tesla delivered both quarters, the profitability call he got right when almost nobody believed it.

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LAST CHECKED 2026-06-12

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