Elon Musk is a busy man. Musk is either the CEO, board member or founder of a handful of prominent companies. Those companies include Tesla Inc. TSLA, The Boring Co., Starlink and SpaceX. Musk also helped start OpenAI, the startup behind the recently viral ChatGPT.
Twitter it seems Twitter Inc. might be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Why it matters: Tesla is one of the largest companies in the world, but the space is becoming increasingly competitive. After Tesla’s record two-year bull run, the stock still has substantial room to fall if things don’t turn around.
Not only is Twitter a significant undertaking, but it’s also likely well out of his area of expertise. All of Musk’s other companies are more product and engineering based, whereas Twitter involves understanding people, emotional intelligence and a lot of politics. Twitter has to appease advertisers, governments and the populace and make sure everyone is engaged.
Not only has Musk been the subject of a lot of controversy over the past couple of months, but Tesla investors are also apparently concerned. While Tesla’s stock was on the decline prior to Musk's takeover of Twitter on Oct. 27, it’s seemingly accelerating now. Tesla has lost nearly 34% in value and roughly $250 billion in its market capitalization.
Comparing this with his announcement that Musk took a stake in Twitter, it’s even worse. When Musk announced he took a 9% stake in Twitter, Tesla was sitting at around $328 per share. Tesla has since declined over 54%.
Comparing this with other stocks and markets, it’s significantly worse. In the startup world, demand is strong. Startup Eli Electric Vehicles, for example, has already raised over $300,000 on StartEngine.
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Ford Motor Co. F hasn’t had the best year, but since Oct. 27, the company’s stock has only declined roughly 10% and remained relatively flat since May.
Li Auto Inc. LI has increased 41% since Oct. 27, and Xpeng Inc. XPEV has increased 49%. This means Tesla is one of the worst-performing electric vehicle companies in the sector.
There is some hope for Tesla investors, however. A recent poll by Musk indicates he will actually be stepping down as the head of Twitter, which could ultimately help keep him out of the public eye and more focused on Tesla shareholders.
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