Tesla’s stock price fell for the fourth straight day on Tuesday after Monday’s massive plunge wiped out $ 15 billion in CEO Elon Musk’s net worth.
Shares of the electric car maker fell a whopping 13 percent to $ 619.50 in early trading, putting it below the price it entered the S&P 500 index in December.
That followed a decline of 8.5 percent in Tesla stock, bringing CEO Elon Musk’s fortune down by $ 15.2 billion on Monday, once again making him the second richest person in the world after Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Musk may only be to blame for himself. Tesla’s stock fueled after his tweet on Saturday in which he stated that the prices of bitcoin and Ether – the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies – “appear high,” raising questions about the value of the automaker’s $ 1.5 billion investment in the first.
“Since plunging into the deep end of the pool last month with his $ 1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase for both good and bad, the company’s stock is now heavily tied to this digital currency,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel. Ives in a research note Tuesday.
A day earlier, Ives had estimated that Tesla made a $ 1 billion paper profit on the bitcoin purchase before Musk’s post helped bring the price of the digital coin down, which fell below $ 50,000 early Tuesday morning.
Tesla shares are down more than 20 percent since the Silicon Valley titan unveiled his cryptocurrency blockbuster bet, which Musk has called a “less stupid form of liquidity than cash.”
But the billionaire tech tycoon remained challenging on Tuesday. When market strategist Peter Schiff pointed out on Twitter that Tesla’s stock had entered a bear market since the bitcoin announcement, Musk replied with an eggplant emoji, which Schiff took to be “actually calling me a dick.”
Tesla also took a hit on Monday after Electrek reported that the company was no longer taking orders for the cheapest version of its Model Y SUV.
Musk seemed confirm the news on Twitter, saying he didn’t think “the range, in many driving conditions, still meets Tesla’s standard of excellence.” He said the model was still available “off the menu”.