Twitter posts have so far cost Tesla shareholders nearly $61 billion, while Musk himself suffers a paper loss equal to the entire wealth of Norway’s richest man.
Status is updated.
Tesla stock fell Monday morning, down five percent after half an hour of trading.
It comes after Elon Musk, CEO and major shareholder of the electric car company, posted a tweet asking other Twitter followers for advice on whether he should sell 10% of his stock.
Twitter followers were able to participate in the survey and most people answered yes. Musk promised to follow up on the outcome of the vote, which means that a large number of Tesla shares will now be sold.
Musk owns 23 percent of Tesla, which is worth $1,200 billion, or about 10,000 billion kronor, more than any other car company in the world and throughout history. His share of musk has made him by far the richest man in the world.
At the same time, these stock sales are bad news for Tesla stocks, as more shares available for sale should usually drive prices down. More importantly, it may be a bad sign when a company’s top executives sell stock, as no one knows more about the company’s future prospects than they do.
Thus, the stock market crash was expected and meant that the company became less by about $61 billion.
Musk himself posted a loss of $14 billion, or 120 billion kronor, on the stock exchange on Monday. This amount is higher than the entire wealth of the world’s richest Norwegian, John Frederiksen.
However, it may be absolutely necessary for Musk to sell Tesla stock. The CEO, who takes no salary other than stocks and options at Telsa, has almost a tax bill 15 billion dollars which should be paid soon. Selling 10 percent of his shares in Tesla would give him an income of over 25 billion.
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