Elon Musk has wiped out billions of dollars in Tesla’s value (TSLA) due to a strange series of tweets, including one in which he claimed Tesla’s stock was trading too high.
The CEO has been using Twitter lately to promote his views that the COVID-19 pandemic is not as bad as it is being portrayed in the media, and how he thinks the US should start lifting its shelter-in-place orders, which he describes as “house arrest” and something that infringes on constitutional rights.
It’s a subject that is divisive even among Tesla fans, which are normally some of his strongest supporters.
Yesterday, we shared a poll about how Musk’s comments are affecting your view of Tesla, and almost 40% said that it is negatively affecting Tesla:
Today, Musk took back to Twitter with a strange series of tweets that started with him claiming that he is going to sell “almost all physical possessions”:
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
But what really negatively affected Tesla’s stock was his next tweet in which he stated that Tesla’s stock is too high:
Tesla stock price is too high imo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
It resulted in a massive selloff of millions of Tesla shares within minutes and Tesla’s valuation losing billions of dollars:
Both tweets were posted within minutes, prompting some to think that he is selling his Tesla stock and others believing that he has been hacked.
A minute later, he went back to promoting his belief that the US should “give people back their freedom”:
Now give people back their FREEDOM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Later, he started tweeting lyrics to the American national anthem.
Electrek’s Take
I know a lot of people are calling him crazy on Twitter, and that’s the easy thing to do.
While I don’t necessarily agree with his stance, I don’t blame him for it. I have been cutting everyone some slack over their comments and stances on this crisis since it is a stressful time for everyone.
On top of it, I heard Elon is having a baby with Grimes any day now, and that’s also stressful.
Maybe the stress is getting to him and he is back to tweeting things that will likely get him into trouble with the SEC and Tesla shareholders.
But I think I might know what he is doing here.
It’s just a theory, but I saw a lot of people claiming that his “open America” and “give people back their freedom” was just to help Tesla reopen Fremont factory and keep the stock high enough so he could collect his upcoming massive stock option package, which is dependent on Tesla maintaining a high valuation.
Knowing a little about Musk, that hurt him. I don’t view him as someone primarily motivated by money, and I think his view that people are being robbed of their freedom is sincere.
By doing that, he basically robbed himself of the stock compensation and showed that it’s not what he is after.
Again, it’s just theory. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below, but please stay cordial.
Either way, it is coming at a cost to Tesla’s shareholders and Tesla’s many employees who are getting a lot of their compensation through stock options.
Whatever Elon was thinking, I don’t think Elon was thinking about them when he wrote that tweet.
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