Tesla Shares Rally After CEO Elon Musk Says To ‘Hang On’ To Sliding Stock
by Derek Saul · ForbesTopline
Amid mounting concerns about what his White House role means for his day job as Tesla chief executive officer, the world’s richest man Elon Musk convened Tesla employees for a livestreamed all-hands meeting late Thursday, urging them to “hang on to your stock” in the carmaker as it navigates a chilly three-month stretch, helping ignite a rally for shares of the automaker.
Key Facts
Musk coyly addressed Tesla stock’s 51% dive from its December record through Thursday, saying the company is amid “a little bit of stormy weather” and “if you read the news, it feels like Armageddon,” mentioning the widespread protests at Tesla showrooms and vandalism of the vehicles.
“Tesla stock goes up and it goes down, but actually it’s still the same company,” said Musk, adding, “I guess it’s just very emotional.”
Shares of Tesla rose nearly 4% by mid-afternoon Friday even as the S&P 500 declined slightly, though the stock is still down 2% since last Friday, heading toward its ninth consecutive losing week.
The surprise event marked Musk’s most prominent appearance with Tesla since the company’s Jan. 26 earnings call as the billionaire dedicated much of his time working for the Trump administration, and the all-hands notably came just hours after one of the most well-known bullish analysts covering the company, Wedbush’s Dan Ives, insisted Musk “step up, stop being silent, and help resolve this crisis forming at Tesla.”
But “last night was the type of leadership Musk needed to show," Ives credited in a Friday note to clients, applauding Musk for “showing important hand holding at this key time for employees and investors.”
Crucial Quote
“I have like 17 jobs, at this point,” Musk said Thursday, adding he’s “stretched pretty thin.”
Key Background
In addition to his role at Tesla, Musk is the de facto head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, the CEO of multibillion-dollar private firms SpaceX aeronautics and xAI artificial intelligence, chairman and owner of the social media firm X and the founder of the startups Boring Company and Neuralink, which focus on tunneling and brain implants, respectively. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Musk has dedicated “110%” of his time with DOGE, a role with its heavy influence in Trump’s goal to slash civil service jobs and government funding which has proven controversial for its often misleading claims about targeted programs. That negative sentiment toward Musk’s outspoken politics has resulted in a significant headwind for Tesla sales to start 2025, leading a host of Wall Street firms to lower their price targets for Tesla stock and cut their forecasts for vehicle deliveries in 2025. Tesla’s “sales woes” are a result of declining “brand perception” in the U.S. and the European Union, Mizuho analysts wrote this week.
Forbes Valuation
As Tesla’s largest shareholder, nobody has been hit harder by Tesla stock’s selloff in terms of sheer value than Musk, whose net worth is down nearly $140 billion from its December apex. Musk’s $328 billion fortune is still by far the largest of any human, according to our estimates, though for the first time since 2019, it’s SpaceX, not Tesla, that’s the leading source of his wealth.