Tesla has increased its capital spending plan by $1 billion, the electric automaker said in a regulatory filing on Monday that also disclosed a second subpoena related to Chief Executive Elon Musk's go-private tweets in 2018. The company now expects to spend between $6 billion and $8 billion this year and each of the next two years, up from its previous expenditure plan of $5 billion-$7 billion, as it looks to ramp up production at its new facilities in Texas and Berlin.
Musk had last month said the factories are "losing
billions of dollars" as they struggle to raise output due to a shortage of
batteries and China port issues.
Meanwhile, the latest subpoena by the US Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 13, has sought information about compliance
with Musk's settlement with the regulator in 2018.
Musk had settled a lawsuit by the SEC over his go-private
tweets by agreeing to let the company's lawyers pre-approve tweets with
material information about the company.
The company said it will cooperate with the government
authorities. The SEC declined to comment. The regulator had first subpoenaed
Tesla in November related to the settlement.
The world's richest person, who calls himself a "free
speech absolutist", had in March said his "funding secured"
tweet was truthful, likening himself to rapper Eminem in seeking to throw out
his 2018 agreement with the SEC.
In June, he also appealed a judge's refusal to end the
agreement.
The latest subpoena comes as Musk prepares for a legal
showdown in October with Twitter for dropping his $44 billion offer to buy the
social media company.
In June, the regulator had questioned Musk over a tweet in
which he raised doubts over his acquisition of Twitter due to concerns over the
number of fake users and spam accounts.
Separately, Tesla's filing said it converted about 75
percent of its bitcoin holdings into fiat currency, gaining $64 million in the
process, while recording an impairment charge of $170 million in the first six
months of 2022.
As of June 30, the fair market value of its digital assets
was worth $222 million, it said in the filing.
© Reuters
