Tesla Inc. shares ended their worst week since 2020 on Friday, as CEO Elon Musk sold billions of dollars in shares and was asked by a prominent investor to step down from the EV maker’s helm.
Tesla TSLA, -4.72% Shares fell 4.7% on Friday, posting a 16.1% weekly decline, the fourth-worst week in history for the stock after a three-week streak in late February and early March 2020, as investors sold shares fearing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tesla ended the week with a market cap below $500 billion for the first time since November 2020, and its stock price fell nearly below $150 for the first time since this month, ending the week at $150.05.
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The decline came as Musk sold shares, which he has repeatedly done since November 2021. Musk announced the sale of more than $3.5 billion worth of Tesla shares late Wednesday after executing the trades in the previous three trading sessions as the price fell a total of 12.4%. In total, the Tesla CEO has sold $39.3 billion worth of Tesla stock over the past 13 months, according to Dow Jones Market Data and MarketWatch calculations.
The recent sales appear to be related to Musk’s acquisition of social media platform Twitter, which he bought for around $44 billion this year. It’s the second time he’s sold shares since the deal was completed in October.
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Musk has reportedly spent much of his time on Twitter, which seems to have angered some prominent Tesla investors. Leo KoGuan, Tesla’s third-largest single shareholder, publicly called for a new CEO on Twitter this week, as a chorus of previously encouraging reports on the service expressed dismay at the stock decline and Musk’s actions.
Upbeat analysts have also raised concerns about Musk’s focus and stock selling. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who has an outperform rating and a 12-month price target of $250 on Tesla shares, wrote Thursday, “Musk continues to pour fuel into the burning fire surrounding the Tesla story by… he sold more shares and his actions caused the Tesla brand to deteriorate on Twitter.”
“The nightmare of Musk owning Twitter was an episode from the Twilight Zone that never ends and keeps getting worse,” Ives wrote. “In late April, Musk said he was done selling Tesla stock, instead the exact opposite has happened, putting massive pressure on Tesla stock, which has significantly underperformed the market since Musk acquired Twitter in late October .”
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Tesla shares are down 57.4% so far in 2022, while the S&P 500 index SPX is down -1.11%, down 18.3%. Tesla’s market cap was $474.4 billion at the close on Friday.