Tesla (TSLA+3.88%) CEO Elon Musk acknowledged the trouble his EV giant has had in recent months, but urged staff to “hang onto your stock” during an all-hands meeting on Thursday.
Musk talked late on Thursday night from the company’s Texas gigafactory in a meeting that was streamed on his social media site X. He tried to encourage workers as Tesla stock has tanked over 50% in the past three months.
“If you read the news, it feels like Armageddon,” Musk said, referencing recent attacks on Tesla dealerships.
“I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. You’re like — what is going on?” he added. “I understand if you don’t want to buy our product, but you don’t have to burn it down. That’s a bit unreasonable.”
Despite the challenges, Musk’s central message to employees was clear: hold onto your shares.
Tesla stock is down roughly 2% this week and has plunged 33% over the past month — and by more than half from its all-time high in mid-December. The selloff has erased billion of dollars from Musk’s net worth, about 60% of which is tied to Tesla shares and options.
And the wipeout comes as Musk — by his own admission — has struggled to balance his role as Tesla’s chief executive while leading several other companies and the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Some analysts suggest Musk’s close ties to President Donald Trump have also contributed to Tesla’s woes.
The DOGE initiative has garnered ill will from the very people who made up Tesla’s original customer base.
“If you agree or disagree with DOGE it misses the point that by Musk spending 110% of his time with DOGE (and not as Tesla CEO) since President Trump got back into the White House this has essentially turned Tesla into a political symbol…. and this is a bad thing,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, a prominent Tesla bull, wrote in a Wednesday note to investors.
Tesla has borne the brunt of the outrage as hundreds of protestors across the world, primarily in the U.S. and Canada, protest against Musk. Projections for the company’s first quarter sales have taken a hit and a major auto show removed Tesla from its lineup to avoid protests.
—William Gavin contributed to this article.
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