The meltdown of a Rocket Man Billionaire Musk in tears as he admits to drug struggle
BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk broke down in tears as he admitted to a prescription drug habit and asked if someone else could do his job.
In an extraordinary meltdown, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX, confessed to being reliant on the sleeping pill Ambien.
But he denied he had been on drugs when he tweeted about a possible privatisation of his car firm.
The 47-year-old is facing mounting pressure over a tweet sent last week in which he claimed to have “secured funding” to take Tesla private.
The sudden announcement sent Tesla’s share price rocketing by 11 per cent in one day, leading officials to ask if he had violated securities law by misleading investors.
In yesterday’s interview with the New York Times he described the past year as “excruciating” and the “most difficult and most painful” of his career.
In the offbeat and occasionally tearful interview, Mr Musk also bizarrely asked: “If you have anyone who can do a better job… They can have the job.”
He admitted he relied on medication to help him sleep, saying: “It is often a choice of no sleep or Ambien.”
The entrepreneur added: “It’s not been great, actually. I’ve had friends come by who are really concerned.”
In February SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon Heavy Rocket.
The company wants to develop reusable launch vehicles to help put, among other things, satellites into space.