Elon Musk took two significant financial blows on Monday, with stocks in Tesla slumping dramatically to a lower price than before Donald Trump’s November election victory and X suffering a major outage.
Tesla shares fell by more than 14 per cent by mid-day after UBS cut its forecast for the automaker's first-quarter deliveries, and 15.43 per cent by the time the markets closed, making it Tesla’s worst day since September 2020.
Individual shares were down by more than $40, with journalist Yashar Ali noting that for every $10 the stock was down, Musk’s net worth declined by around $4.7 billion – totaling $18.8 billion.
Stock in the EV manufacturer is down more than 51 per cent from its all-time high, which was set in December. Traders predicted the tech entrepreneur's close ties with the president would help with regulation.
However, Musk’s increasingly political social media posts, as well as his association with the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, are seemingly affecting Tesla's brand in the U.S. and especially Europe.
Across the U.S. Tesla facilities and individual owners have reported seeing an increase in vandalism and arson attempts against the vehicles. Repeated incidents occurred at a Tesla store and service center in Loveland, Colorado, the most recent of which occurred on Friday, police told CNBC.
In addition, on Monday, X was hit with severe outages, with tens of thousands of users reporting their servers down, according to tracking site Downdetector.com.
The Tesla stock dive comes as part of a wider downward trend of losses tied to concerns about Trump’s economic policies, with the tech-centric Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 3 per cent.
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth has dropped by a whopping $139.4 billion compared to his record $464 billion set in December – now sitting at just $324.6 billion.
As Tesla’s largest shareholder, Musk is still worth roughly $115 billion more than any other person on Earth, according to the outlet, though his net worth fell by $18 billion Monday amid the stock drop.
On Friday, Tesla completed its seventh straight week of losses – the company’s longest negative streak since debuting on the Nasdaq in 2010. The stock has fallen every week since Musk went to Washington to take up the self-styled role of “First Buddy.”
