Tesla investors are pressing for Elon Musk to leave his Twitter responsibilities and refocus on the electric car company. This should not come as a shock as Tesla’s stocks went down 65% this year.
Ross Gerber, head of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, and a Tesla shareholder said during a Twitter Spaces talk on Tuesday that the only reason for the car company’s market woes is Musk’s involvement with Twitter.
“We all know why Tesla stock is down and it has nothing to do with the company,” Gerber said. “The company is doing great. The company has the best environment it could possibly want. It’s about getting a bunch of incentives from the government. The factories are ramping up. New products are launching. The only problem is the optics of having the CEO on Twitter every day discussing the problems of Hunter Biden.”
Musk’s continual selling of Tesla stock to save Twitter is adding fuel to the fire.
“Elon selling definitely has killed the stock because of the way he sells,” Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund investment firm, which has a stake in Tesla, said during the Spaces event on Tuesday. “I called it reckless before. Maybe that’s too strong a word.”
“It’s baffling,” Gerber added. Both Gerber and Black suggested that Musk is selling Tesla stock to invest in Twitter, a company that Black noted: “makes no money and probably never will.”
Just before the Spaces began on Tuesday afternoon, Gerber wrote on Twitter that Tesla’s stock reflected the company “having no CEO.” Musk first responded with snark, then argued that tech stocks including Tesla are dropping because interest rates on personal savings accounts are increasing, leaving people to choose a guaranteed return at a bank over riskier stock investing.
“What we’re getting is a vote of no confidence in Elon,” Gerber said.
Gerber is also an investor in Twitter, having participated in the equity financing round earlier this year that preceded Musk’s takeover.
He stated that he got an email early last week saying the company was “doing another round” of fundraising, and for investors to get in touch if interested.
“That’s weird,” Black noted. “The financials are way different now.” And, Gerber said, despite responding to the fundraising email, he has received no follow-up communication from Musk’s team or anyone from Twitter about the new financing round.
