Tesla’s market value has plunged by more than $800bn since December and it was a further 4% down in US trading on Tuesday.
One of Tesla’s earliest investors has told Sky News that Elon Musk should step aside as the carmaker’s chief executive unless he gives up his new government job.
Ross Gerber said in an interview with Sky’s Business Live that the tycoon and adviser to Donald Trump had lost his focus given his widening interests and was now too “divisive”.
He cited Musk’s post-election role at the helm of the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It has attracted public anger, and protests, over planned swingeing cuts to federal government staff. He added that his social media posts and work with the president since had brought too much negative publicity to Tesla.
“The company’s reputation has just been destroyed by Elon Musk,” he said.
“Sales are plummeting so, yeah, it’s a crisis. – Sky
TSLA: Tesla stock tumbled 5.3% on Tuesday, bringing its March losses to a staggering 23%. The American brand closed the Monday session lower by 4.8% as the stock was coming off an eight-week losing streak, its longest on record. The fresh drop has erased 52% in just two months and the shares are now back where they were in September (i.e. the Trump pump is gone).
Bearish Hedge Funds Turn a Profit. Back to Tesla, the Elon Musk-led company has been solely responsible for enriching the bears out there. Hedge funds who hold short positions are sitting on more than $16 billion in profits. Musk, on the other end, has lost a whopping $180 billion from the time Tesla shares hit a record (mid-December).
Musk’s political disruptions as Donald Trump’s right-hand man, analysts say, are proving to be detrimental to his car company’s brand. His aggressive far-right stance on internal and foreign policy issues have raised concerns over his ability to manage the Tesla business. – Tradingview.com.
FROM VILLAIN TO VICTIM – SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: Elon Musk has spoken out about an alleged conspiracy to assassinate him and destroy Tesla, the electric car company that has made him the richest man in the world.
The head of the Department of Government Efficiency and informal adviser to President Donald Trump has had a difficult few weeks as he continues his mission to dramatically reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy.
Speaking on Fox News Tuesday night, Musk told Sean Hannity that his attempts to cut government waste and fraud is the reason why certain characters ‘want to kill me.’
‘It turns out when you take away people’s, you know, the money that they’re receiving fraudulently, they get very upset,’ he said.
‘And they basically want kill me because I’m stopping their fraud and they want to hurt Tesla because we’re stopping the terrible waste and corruption in the government. And, well, I guess they’re bad people. Bad people do bad things.’
Musk repeated the claim made by many conservative lawmakers, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, that there could be left-wing groups coordinating the protests and attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships.
‘I think there are larger forces at work as well,’ Musk said. ‘I mean, who’s funding and who’s coordinating it? Because this is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this.
‘Tesla is a peaceful company, we’ve never done anything harmful. I’ve never done anything harmful, I’ve only done productive things, so I think we just have a deranged… I think there’s some kind of mental illness going on here,’ he added.
Last week, roughly 250 activists gathered outside a showroom in New York City, holding anti-Musk placards that read ‘Block Fascism Now and ‘Musk Must Go’ as they shouted ‘Elon Musk is not elected! Democracy must be protected!’
The chaos and anger directed at Musk and Tesla have swelled to the point that Trump came out and declared it domestic terrorism.
‘They’re harming a great American company,’ Trump said at the White House, referring to the demonstrators. ‘Let me tell you, you do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you, and… you’re going to go through hell.’
Attorney General Pam Bondi appears to be following through on Trump’s promise, also calling the attacks on Tesla property ‘domestic terrorism’ in a statement Tuesday evening.
‘The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences,’ Bondi said.
‘We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.’
New registrations of its vehicles in the US dropped 11 percent in January from a year earlier.
Foreign countries are souring on Teslas even more dramatically, particularly in Europe.
Data released in early March showed Tesla sales were down 24 percent year over year in the Netherlands, 42 percent in Sweden, 48 percent in both Norway and Denmark, 45 percent in France, 55 percent in Italy, 10 percent in Spain and 53 percent in Portugal.
However, sales fell off a cliff in Germany, where 76 percent fewer Tesla vehicles were sold in February when compared to last year.
Germany’s rejection of Tesla came after Musk’s viral moment at the Inauguration where he was seen making a controversial hand gesture. – James Cirrone for DM.
Graphic – The Subversive Lens.
Mar 19, 2025 11:26:31 am