Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Friday lashed out at Greenlight Capital hedge fund manager and long-time Tesla short seller David Einhorn.
Musk’s Letter
In an open letter to Einhorn, Musk alleges Einhorn made “numerous false allegations” concerning Tesla in Greenlight’s third-quarter investor letter.
“It is understandable that you wish to save face with your investors, given the losses you suffered from Tesla’s successful third quarter, especially since you’ve had several down years in performance and a sharp drop in assets under management from $15 billion to $5 billion,” Musk wrote in the letter, which he posted on Twitter.
Einhorn’s Claims
Musk’s tweet comes in response to Einhorn’s letter released earlier this week in which he referenced an ongoing lawsuit against Musk by Tesla shareholders who claim he failed to fully disclose a “liquidity crisis” at SolarCity prior to Tesla’s 2016 buyout of the solar company.
“To the surprise of nobody, documents in TSLA’s SolarCity litigation unsealed in September showed that Elon Musk knowingly orchestrated a significant fraud by arranging the $2.6 billion acquisition at a time when SolarCity was insolvent,” Einhorn wrote in his letter. “For now, the accepted reality appears to be that Elon Musk is above the law.”
Tesla shares are up more than 40% in the past month after the company reported its first quarterly profit of 2019 in the third quarter.
“Please allow us to send you a small gift of short shorts to help you through this difficult time,” Musk wrote on Friday.
Following the recent rally, Tesla shares have nearly recovered all of their late 2018 and early 2019 losses and are now down just 3.8% overall in the past year.
Benzinga’s Take
Einhorn’s struggles have been well-documented in recent years, as fund managers that rely heavily on traditional value investing strategies continue to underperform. However, Musk’s repeated taunting of short sellers will likely embolden critics who have referred to him as immature and bratty.
Tesla's stock traded around $335 per share at time of publication.
Do you agree with this take? Email feedback@benzinga.com with your thoughts.
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Photo by Steve Jurvetson via Wikimedia.
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