No Elon Musk Show during this Tesla quarterly call

FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk did not participate in the company's earnings conference call for the first time on Wednesday, making him one of the rare top executives in the United States to miss the quarterly ritual of talking to Wall Street.

Musk's popularity among investors and customers is a major asset for the electric car maker, and his absence - if it continues - is likely to turn Tesla's quarterly calls into more staid reviews of business than unpredictable platforms for the celebrity CEO's latest thoughts.