Elon Musk is used to facing critics, haters and critics.
In fact, he really likes these fights.
Sometimes he even tends to provoke his supposed enemies. The Techno King, as he is called at Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report, likes to turn his opponents’ attacks into counterattacks. The serial entrepreneur is never as deadly as on defense.
He knows these adversaries. He knows their attack angles. Certainly some of these criticisms annoy him, but he always finds the right answer to ward off the critics.
He can also count on his legion of fans, many of whom are die-hard Tesla fans. They believe in its promises to change the world and beyond our civilization. They applaud his iconoclastic side and don’t hesitate to cry Genie when he announces a new product. The billionaire always knew he could count on these admirers.
The Revolt of the Small Investor
But what he never expected was that some of these fans would come after him. He never prepared for it because he always counted on her loyalty to him. It turns out Musk was wrong.
For a few weeks, the CEO of Tesla has repeatedly been criticized by some private investors. Investor Leo KuGuan, after Musk and Oracle the third largest single shareholder of the car manufacturer (ORCL) – Get Free Report co-founder Larry Ellison even went so far as to instigate a revolt against Musk.
“I am 100% Tesla because I believe in Elon Musk and Tesla,” KoGuan wrote on Twitter on Jan. 7. “But he kills SH and Tesla. If I knew that, I wouldn’t invest in Tesla.”
“Elon has invested ≈200 million but raised $40 billion, Larry has invested $1 billion, I have invested over $3 billion, I have no choice but to act and speak out. I’m calling U for help!”
The criticism from these investors is the result of Tesla’s stock price. In 2022, Tesla stock lost 65% of its value, translating to a market cap of more than $600 billion that has evaporated in a year. Tesla’s market value is currently $357 billion, compared to over $1 trillion at the start of 2022. In the first four trading sessions of 2023, Tesla shares lost 8.2% to $113.06 .
While Musk attributes this stock market disaster to macroeconomic factors like the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike to fight inflation and Europe’s energy crisis, many Tesla shareholders believe his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter is the big deal.
They claim that when Musk took aim at the social media platform, Tesla completely left Tesla behind. Worse, he has alienated many Tesla buyers by regularly attacking progressives and Democrats on Twitter.
Tesla outperforms its competitors
Individual investors collectively own 41.9% of Tesla stock as of Dec. 5, according to WallStreetZen. Institutional investors hold the largest block with 43.01% of the shares. The rest is held by the company’s executives, ie 15%.
While Musk once responded to some criticism a while back, he’s been quiet lately. This is no doubt due to the fact that he has to comply with the standstill period until the company’s results are released on January 25th. Up to this point, Musk’s management team has remained silent so as not to influence the stock price in favor of certain shareholders or to the detriment of others.
But Musk just found a subtle and salient way to respond to the criticism that has become fierce in recent days. The entrepreneur just retweeted a chart showing that of all the major automakers in the American market, only Tesla and General Motors (GM) – Get Free Report managed to increase its light vehicle sales in 2022 compared to 2021. All other vehicle manufacturers saw their sales decrease compared to 2021.
Tesla’s sales rose 44% over the year, while GM’s grew just 3%.
Musk said nothing further.