Share of Tesla Plummets After Vote on Twitter
On Monday, Tesla stock took a hit on the Wall Street stock exchange after Twitterers voted en masse in a poll to sell the shares that Tesla CEO Elon Musk holds.
The stock lost 7.3 percent after opening Monday. That is the most significant drop since March this year.
A large majority -58 percent- of the 3.5 million voters on Twitter said yes to Musk’s own question of whether he should sell his shares. The entrepreneur controls 170.5 million shares – about 10 percent of the capital – of the electric car manufacturer, good for about 21 billion dollars. Musk said after the poll that he was “willing to accept any result”.
Tesla’s share dropped significantly at the opening but later made up for some of that loss. Since the beginning of this year, the share has already appreciated 73 percent.
It’s not the first time Musk’s behaviour on Twitter has made Tesla stock move. But analysts point out to Bloomberg that even if the CEO were to sell his stake, it would make little difference. “The free float – the number of shares that are freely tradable – would only increase by 1.5 to 2 percent,” said one analyst.
