If You Invested $1,000 In Tesla Stock After Elon Musk Appeared On 'South Park,' Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Elon Musk is one of the most famous people on the face of the planet, known best as the CEO of Tesla Inc TSLA and SpaceX. Musk has also appeared in several movies and television shows and hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 2021, items not always a part of a CEO’s storyline.

What Happened: Musk has been featured as himself in episodes of “The Big Bang Theory,” “Young Sheldon,” and “The Simpsons.”

Musk also appeared in “Iron Man 2,” a movie starring Robert Downey Jr., who based his portrayal of the comic book character on Musk.

Musk has voiced himself on the Paramount Global PARAPARAA show “South Park” for a three-episode arc in Season 20 of the hit animated comedy series.

Musk voiced himself in the following episodes:

• “Members Only”: Season 20, episode 8, air date Nov. 16, 2016
• “Not Funny”: Season 20, episode 9, air date Nov. 30, 2016
• “The End of Serialization as We Know It”: Season 20, episode 10, air date Dec. 7, 2016

“Members Only” features the plot of Cartman and Heidi preparing to go to Mars together. The episode features Musk leading a tour of SpaceX and saying the company is not ready to go to Mars.

Interestingly enough, Musk was first featured on “South Park” in a Season 18 episode called “Handicar” that aired on October 15, 2014, but was voiced by show co-creator Matt Stone.

“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Stone are reported to be friends with Musk in real life, mentioning in the Season 20 commentary that they have played board games such as “Dungeons & Dragons” with Musk. Stone also attended the party hosted after Musk was featured on “Saturday Night Live.”

Related Link: 51 Facts And Figures About Tesla And SpaceX CEO Elon Musk 

Investing $1,000 In Tesla: Tesla shares opened for trading at $183.50 on Nov. 17, 2016, the date after “Members Only” aired, which featured Musk’s first appearance as himself on the show.

A $1,000 investment in Tesla could have purchased 5.45 shares at the time.

Tesla underwent a 5-for-1 stock split in August 2020 that would have turned the stake in Tesla into 27.25 shares. A 3-for-1 stock split in August 2022 would have turned the stake into 81.75 shares. 

The $1,000 investment in Tesla would be worth $18,294.83 today based on a price of $223.79 for Tesla at the time of writing.

The hypothetical investment would have returned 1,729.5% in around 6 years, representing an average annual return of 288.3%.

Photo: Screenshot from "South Park" video, "The End of Serialization as We Know It."