Is Tesla Having Trouble Paying the Rent?
Automologist MAC knows how it feels…
It would seem that the Elon-Musk-fronted electric car maker Tesla is amongst the rest of us and feeling the pinch from the Wuhan-originated Coronavirus pandemic.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, just one of the many publications that I have had time to read cover to cover of late, the company has been in contact with the landlords of its dealerships and service centres to try and talk down the rents. The Journal quoted a leaked email in which the company asks to renegotiate their leases “so (they) can continue to partner and work together to ensure a continued and mutually beneficial relationship”.
As a businessman, I am personally expecting so very many of my customers and suppliers to be using the Wuhan Virus card to try and get discounts or debt-forgiveness from me. I guess it is a natural reaction. My job will be to try and ascertain whether the requested break is deserved or not.
Of course, Tesla is not the only corporate titan that is seeking help—companies like WeWork and the Cheesecake Factory have already had problems in paying rent and there have been countless small business failures due to the knee jerk reaction to put the world’s business into hibernation whilst we figured out how we were going to deal with the Coronavirus from Wuhan.
Tesla is hoping that their landlords will be happy to get some rent and not have an empty building in the post-apocalyptic business scape that we are about to enter. I wonder if that will work with my landlord?
