Elon Musk sends a subtle message to disenchanted Tesla shareholders
Elon Musk is used to facing critics, haters and detractors.
He even really likes these battles.
Sometimes he even tends to provoke his supposed enemies. The Techno King, as he is known at Tesla (TSLA) – Get a free report, he likes to turn his opponents’ attacks into counterattacks. The serial entrepreneur is never as deadly as when he is on the defensive.
These adversaries you know. Know their angles of attack. Certainly some of these criticisms annoy him but he always finds the line of response to repel the detractors.
You can also count on its legion of fans, many of whom are die-hard Tesla fans. They believe in their promises to transform the world and beyond our civilization. They applaud his iconoclastic side and don’t hesitate to shout genius when he announces a new product. The billionaire always knew that he could count on these admirers.
The retail investor revolt
But what he never anticipated was that some of these fans would be coming after him. Therefore, she never prepared for it because she always counted on his loyalty to him. Turns out, Musk was wrong.
For several weeks now, the Tesla CEO has been the target of repeated criticism from some retail investors. Investor Leo KuGuan, who is the automaker’s third-largest individual shareholder after Musk and Oracle. (ORCL) – Get a free report Co-founder Larry Ellison even sounded a revolt against Musk.
“I am 100% in Tesla because I believe in Elon Musk and Tesla,” KoGuan wrote on Twitter on January 7. “But it’s killing SH and Tesla. If I knew, I wouldn’t invest in Tesla.”
“Elon invested ≈$200 million but took out $40 billion, Larry invested $1 billion, I invested over $3 billion, I have no choice but to act and speak up. I’m crying out for your help!”
The criticism from these investors is a consequence of the Tesla stock market crash. In 2022, Tesla shares lost 65% of their value, translating to over $600 billion in market capitalization evaporated in one year. Tesla’s market value is currently $357 billion, down from more than $1 trillion in early 2022. Through the first four trading sessions of 2023, Tesla shares lost 8.2% to $113 .06.
Although Musk attributes this stock market disaster to macroeconomic factors such as the Federal Reserveaggressive interest rate hike to fight inflation and the energy crisis in Europe, many Tesla shareholders believe that its $44 billion acquisition of Twitter is the big problem.
They claim that when Musk set his sights on the social media platform, he left Tesla completely behind. Worse yet, he has alienated many Tesla buyers by regularly attacking progressives and Democrats on Twitter.
Tesla outperforms its rivals
Retail investors together own 41.9% of Tesla shares as of December 5, according to WallStreetZen. Institutional investors have the largest block with 43.01% of the shares. The rest is in the hands of the company’s executives, that is, 15%.
While Musk once responded to some criticism a while back, he has been quiet of late. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that he must observe the quiet period until the company’s earnings release on January 25. Until that date, the management team must remain silent so as not to influence the share price for the benefit of certain shareholders. or to the detriment of others.
But Musk has just found a subtle and flashy way to respond to the criticism, which has turned violent in recent days. The businessman has just retweeted a graph that shows that of all the major automakers present in the US market, only Tesla and General Motors (GM) – Get a free report have managed to increase their sales of light vehicles in 2022 compared to 2021. The rest of the vehicle manufacturers have seen their sales decrease compared to 2021.
Tesla saw its sales increase by 44% over a year, while GM’s only increased by 3%.
Musk said nothing more.