When a company asks suppliers to retroactively give money back, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong.
That’s what analysts worry about with Tesla Inc., which has asked suppliers to return a portion of payments for parts they’ve delivered going back to 2016. In the memo to suppliers last week, Tesla asked for a meaningful amount of money to help it become profitable. The electric-car maker made the request to fewer than 10 suppliers, related to capital expenditures for long-term projects that started as far back as 2016 and aren’t complete, a spokesman said in a statement.