According to CNBC, since Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his acquisition of Twitter, the electric car maker’s stock has dropped more than 35%. At the close of trading on Friday, the stock was still down 3.6% as the market recovered from a volatile week. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index is down about 18% over the same period.
Musk first announced that he had agreed to buy Twitter on April 25, 2022. Tesla stock closed that day at $332.67 per share and closed Friday’s session at $207.47 – marking the end of the first week of Twitter ownership.
Also on Friday, Musk spoke at the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference. Here, investor Ron Baron – who is currently a shareholder in both Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter – is also a very lost person interested in Musk’s business practices – asked the billionaire CEO how to align his work with the new responsibilities.
In addition to operating a rocket and satellite internet manufacturer (SpaceX), a multinational electric vehicle and sustainable energy company (Tesla), investing in and establishing a brain chip company (Neuralink) and a business segment. The Boring Company, Musk now calls himself “Chief Twit”. More formally, he was Twitter’s sole CEO and director after the $44 billion deal.
In response to Baron’s question, Musk replied: “My workload increased from somewhere around 78 hours a week to 120 hours a week.” But, “once Twitter is on the right track, I think running it will be a lot easier than SpaceX or Tesla.”
Currently, Musk has not said who, or if anyone, could replace him as Twitter CEO. Earlier, he told his Twitter followers that the only position of director and CEO of the social network was temporary.
Musk’s successful takeover of Twitter has prompted several brands, including automakers GM and Audi, to halt ad spending on the social network. But it’s unclear how this will affect Tesla in the long run.
Tesla has long relied on Twitter and Elon Musk’s massive following there to disseminate information to shareholders. Musk even uses Twitter to promote all of his companies, products, and self-image. He regularly inspires fans, following him on Twitter in attacks from individuals to regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, reporters and even umbrella safety advocates auto, who are considered too critical of Tesla.
To manage Twitter, Musk has authorized more than 50 of his Tesla employees, mainly from Autopilot and other software engineers, along with a number of trusted advisors and supporters from businesses his other. He has yet to explain how Tesla employees’ schedules will be divided, how their responsibilities to Twitter and Tesla will be paid, and how they are correlated.
At the investor conference, Musk also reiterated that Tesla still intends to develop an electric vehicle that is less expensive than its Model 3 sedan. He also reiterated his goal of being able to produce 40,000 cars per day.
Musk also said that this level of production would require a lot of batteries, and all the other metals and materials needed to make them. It seems increasingly likely that Tesla will need to be directly involved in mining, rather than relying entirely on external suppliers.
Baron went on to question whether Tesla is discussing or considering an investment in mining and trading company Glencore, as several news outlets have previously reported. “We never intended to invest in Glencore” Musk said. “I’m talking about Tesla, do it yourself,” he insists when it comes to lithium mining.
Tesla’s stock decline since Musk announced the deal in April has been much worse than that of fellow automakers. Shares of GM and Ford fell about 2% and 11%, respectively, while electric vehicle maker Rivian fell just over 5%.
Source: CNBC
Source: Vietnam Insider