'All night - no friends, nothing:' Elon Musk describes the lonely 24 hours he spent working at Tesla on his 47th birthday

Zoë Bernard

Aug 17, 2018, 18:53 IST

'All night - no friends, nothing:' Elon Musk describes the lonely 24 hours he spent working at Tesla on his 47th birthday

Getty Images/Joshua Lott

Engineer and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of The Boring Company listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel talks about constructing a high speed transit tunnel at Block 37 during a news conference on June 14, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

In an interview with the New York Times, Elon Musk said that he typically works 120 hours a week.
Musk said he spent his entire 47th birthday alone working in Tesla's offices.
Musk said that he hasn't taken a week-long vacation in close to 20 years.

The growing production pressures and increased scrutiny on Tesla seem to be taking an emotional toll on the company's CEO, Elon Musk.

In an interview with the New York Times, Musk said he typically works as many as 120 hours a week, and that it's been nearly 20 years since he took a week-long vacation.

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The last time he took as many as seven days off from work was in 2001, he told the Times, when he fell ill with malaria.

Musk described his 47th birthday on June 28, 2018, as an isolated, stressful experience. Rather than celebrating with friends or family, Musk said he was holed up at Tesla's offices for a full 24 hours, overseeing the delayed production on the Model 3.

"All night - no friends, nothing," he said.

These recollections were particularly emotional for Musk, reports the Times, noting that the Tesla CEO choked up during multiple points throughout the interview.

Read the full interview over at The New York Times here.