Will Elon Musk be fired as Tesla CEO after he sends shares into freefall with deluge of bizarre tweets?
Elon Musk could lose his job as Tesla CEO over a tweet.
It is believed that the car maker's board and US Securities and Exchange Commission could be taking into account Musk's strange tweet on Friday that resulted in Tesla's market value dropping down by $14 billion in a matter of a few hours. Tesla shares fell as much as 12% before closing 10.3% down post Musk's tweet.
In the Friday tweet, Musk had said that strong quarter numbers had sent Tesla shares higher than they need to be. "Tesla stock price is too high IMO (in my opinion)," Musk had said in the controversial tweet. The tweet also knocked $3 billion off Musk's own stake in the electric car-maker.
The Tesla stock was trading at around 760.23 prior to his tweet, LiveMint reports. It then fell to a low of 717.64 before going down even further.
Many social media users took to comment on Musk's post and criticized his tweet. One user shared, "Wtf Elon! You own the company, you can't say shit like this. You just cost me thousands of dollars within seconds. I'm a Model 3 owner, long stock owner and you do this? Extremely disappointing!"
A second user wrote, "What is wrong with you! This tweet alone just lost me over £300. I literally have half my savings in Tesla stocks (only 4 stocks) but that is going to be my funds when I go to uni this year. Just because you can don't care if you lose money, stop screwing over your shareholders!"
A third user shared, "You apparently think your (non-Tesla) net worth is also too high because you want the SEC to fine you again."
"Elon, there are people’s lives savings in this, people that support this like no other company in history. It’s not fair and disrespectful to be hurt by this type of comment. It is absolutely not too high the only reason it would is if you don’t believe you’ll achieve your goals," chimed in another user.
However, Musk wasn't done just yet.
He then seemed to have a total meltdown on Twitter when he said he is reconsidering his attachment to the material world: 'Will own no house", Musk declared, and added that he wants to sell "almost all physical possessions."
It is not clear why exactly he wants to do this or where plans to stay after giving up his house.
The Twitter rant didn't end there. Musk then shared that his 32-year-old girlfriend Grimes is mad at him. Some of his followers said she had every right to be.
This is not the first time that one of Musk's tweets have landed him in hot water.
Back in 2018, Musk had shared another very cryptic tweet where he posted about Tesla "going private, funding secured" at $420 a share that resulted in him losing his role as chairman. The tweet also led to Musk and Tesla reaching a settlement of fraud charges with the SEC.
The settlement had $40 million in penalties which were divided equally amongst Musk and the company. The Co-Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, Steven Peikin, shared in a statement, "As a result of the settlement, Elon Musk will no longer be Chairman of Tesla, Tesla's board will adopt important reforms -- including an obligation to oversee Musk's communications with investors -- and both will pay financial penalties."
As per SEC's complaint, Musk's tweets had led to Tesla's stock price jumping by 6% in August. Tesla's market value was estimated to be worth $141 billion before his first tweet which fell to $127 billion.