As the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk is typically seen as a figure driving the company’s success. However, in an unforeseen turn of events, Musk caused the company’s stock value to plummet by a staggering $14 billion with a single tweet.
We all make mistakes, but usually, they don’t involve billions of dollars. At least, that’s not the case for most people.
But when you’re the first individual to break a net worth of $400 billion, such figures become part of your everyday dealings.
The incident occurred in 2020 when Musk tweeted about Tesla’s stock price, seemingly careless, on what was then known as Twitter.
Those mere six words sent Tesla’s share prices into a tailspin, as reported by various outlets at the time.
CNBC noted that Tesla shares plunged by as much as 12 percent before settling at a 10.3 percent drop after the tweet. Meanwhile, the BBC estimated that $14 billion was shaved off the company’s market value.
Moreover, the tweet also caused a $3 billion decrease in Musk’s personal stake in Tesla.
So, what were those six impactful words?
Musk simply tweeted: “Tesla stock price too high imo.”
That was enough to ignite a significant market reaction.
Musk later confessed to the Wall Street Journal that his tweet hadn’t been reviewed by the company prior to posting.
In response, Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told Reuters: “We view these Musk comments as tongue in cheek and it’s Elon being Elon.
“It’s certainly a headache for investors for him to venture into this area as his tweeting remains a hot button issue and [Wall] Street clearly is frustrated.”
Despite the significant loss, Tesla managed to recover and currently boasts a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion as of December 13.
Meanwhile, Musk recently achieved another milestone, with his net worth exceeding $400 billion, making him $198 billion richer than the second wealthiest person, Jeff Bezos, whose net worth stands at $249 billion.
This news coincides with Musk’s new role in the White House, as President-Elect Donald Trump named him as the lead for the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump elaborated that their collaboration would ‘pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement’.