CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk speaks on the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing “Cyber Rodeo” grand opening party in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022.
Suzanne Cordeiro | AFP | Getty Images
Shares in electric vehicle maker Tesla have fallen 28% since October 27, when CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter and appointed himself “Chief Twit,” or CEO, of the social media business.
By the use of comparison, other major automakers like Ford, GM and Volkswagen are barely up since Oct. 27, as is BYD, a Chinese company that makes electric vehicles and batteries. U.S. electric truck maker Rivian has fallen by 27% over that period.
On Tuesday, Tesla shares closed at $160.95, down greater than 4% for the day. It was a rare exception amongst growth-oriented tech stocks, which mostly rose after cooler-than-expected inflation data got here out early within the morning.
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The decline in Tesla stock price has prompted the corporate’s largest retail shareholder Leo Koguan, who’s a billionaire and founding father of the IT services firm SHI International, to call for the corporate’s board to “perform shock therapy to resuscitate stock price,” namely by means of a share buyback.
Musk sold billions of dollars’ price of his Tesla holdings to finance the Twitter takeover. Since he took over the corporate, Musk has been commonly posting incendiary tweets, especially aimed toward individuals who hold center-to-left political values, and whom Musk often paints as enemies with a “woke mind virus.”
For instance, Musk took aim at Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, and trans people, tweeting over the weekend: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”
The offensive tweet drew over 1 million “likes” on Twitter, where Musk has over 120 million listed followers, in addition to criticism from the White House, and from former CIA director John O. Brennan. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Musk’s tweets about Fauci “incredibly dangerous” personal attacks.
Kristin Hull, Nia Impact Capital founder and a Tesla shareholder, wrote on Twitter following that: “So many issues with the Tesla brand, when the board cannot rein within the CEO.”
Economic conditions and an aging product lineup have also contributed to pressure on Tesla’s share price. Tesla has delayed mass production of its sci-fi-inspired, trapezoidal pickup truck, the Cybertruck. Tesla originally showed off the Cybertruck design in 2019, at which period the corporate expected to begin production in 2021.
The corporate held an event at its Nevada battery factory to mark the beginning of deliveries of its fully electric, heavy-duty Semi truck last month. On the event, Tesla execs including Elon Musk made no mention of previously touted self-driving tech, a million-mile warranty that they had previously teased, a price for the Semi, nor any anticipated production numbers.
Tesla can also be facing backlash over a years-long delay in delivering self-driving technology through software updates to its customers’ cars. Customers are increasingly suing Tesla within the U.S. to realize refunds for self-driving systems they paid for and expected to be delivered already.
Tesla markets its driver assistance systems as Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving capability within the U.S. None of those systems make its cars secure to drive with out a human behind the steering wheel, attentive to the road and driving task in any respect times.
The California DMV is investigating Tesla and has formally complained that it has engaged in false promoting around these systems.
Some Tesla fans see the plummeting stock price as a buying opportunity, despite Musk’s recent distraction with Twitter.
The corporate is ramping up production at a recent vehicle assembly plant in Austin, Texas, and one other one outside of Berlin. The corporate has brought Shanghai Manufacturing leader Tom Zhu to the states to assist mature the Austin operation.
