While April was a rough month for everyone in the car industry, Tesla CEO Elon Musk appears to be in more strife than most.
It had been a largely positive start to the year for Tesla. The firm confirmed it had built its 1,000,000th car in March, which was seemingly as a result of the surprisingly early production and delivery of its Model Y SUV. But, the eccentric CEO has once again found himself in hot water over two separate incidents.
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The first took place over Tesla's quarterly earnings conference call, in the form of a tirade that Musk reportedly delivered regarding America's Covid-19 response according to Business Insider. Specifically, in regards to America's social distancing and stay-at-home regulations.
"Frankly, I would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights, in my opinion," he said. "Breaking peoples' freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country. What the f***?
"This is fascist. This isn't democratic. This isn't freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom."
There is considerable conflation of diagnosis & contraction of “corona”. Actual virality is much lower than it would seem. I think this will turn out to be comparable to other forms of influenza. World War Z it is not.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2020
It isn't Musk's first foray into Covid-19 criticism. The CEO was known in the build-up to the spread of the virus to have Tweeted numerous conspirarcy theories, and references to how it is comparable to the common cold. He has also, perhaps to his credit, encouraged the elderly and those displaying symptoms to stay at home.
Then, late last week, things took a different turn.
Tesla stock price is too high imo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Musk Tweeted out that the "Tesla stock price is too high". This was then followed by subsequent Tweets from the Tesla CEO stating that he would be selling "almost all" of his physical possessions.
The Tweets appeared to spook investors, resulting in an almost instant 13 per cent drop in Tesla share prices. The BBC estimates the drop to have cost the firm approximately US$13billion (NZ$23billion).
It isn't the first time that a Tweet from Musk has resulted in Tesla's value being 'manipulated'. A 2018 Musk Tweet about him "considering taking Tesla private" at $420 was deemed to have been misleading to investors by a US District Judge. Following that Tweet, Tesla's values increased by 13 per cent.
Curiously, Tesla's share price has already rebounded following Musk's most recent gaffe. The stock increased as much as 6.8 per cent overnight ... proof of the volatility of stocks in the electric car firm, or perhaps a legacy of the brand's early 2020 successes.
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