"Won't Sell Stocks" Musk Fails Again... Investors Distrust Tesla's Value

"Despite Pledge 'Not to Sell Stocks,' Drops Over 1%
"Investors Fundamentally Question Tesla's Value""

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Tesla's stock price, which has been repeatedly falling relentlessly, failed to reverse despite Elon Musk's patchwork pledge measures.

On the 23rd (local time), Tesla's stock price listed on the US Nasdaq market closed at 123.15, down 1.76% that day. Following an 8.9% plunge the previous day due to news of discounts on some models in the US market acting as a negative factor, the stock price has continued to decline for six consecutive trading days.

As the stock price continued its endless plunge, Musk pledged that he would "not sell additional Tesla shares," but the effect did not work. Tesla's stock price has fallen 42% over the past two months (October 25 to December 23) amid overlapping internal and external negative factors, including the "owner risk" that emerged after Musk's Twitter acquisition.

At the beginning of the year, the stock price was hovering around $400, but it has dropped to about a quarter of that level. Most of Tesla's stock price decline occurred after the Twitter acquisition news was announced. Since the end of September, when the Twitter acquisition news became public, Tesla's stock price has fallen by 57%. CNN pointed out that "even though Musk is signaling that he will step down as Twitter CEO, the risks have not dissipated," and investors are raising fundamental questions about Tesla's value, which was $400 at the beginning of the year.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

The loss in Musk's asset valuation, who was also pushed out of the world's richest person position due to the stock price decline, is growing even larger. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth is $140 billion (based on the closing price that day), a sharp decrease of $130 billion (about 167 trillion won) since the beginning of the year. This is the largest asset decline among billionaires tracked by Bloomberg this year. Musk, who holds a 14.1% stake in Tesla, is seeing his asset valuation evaporate almost in real time due to Tesla's stock price decline.

Through the voice chat service Twitter Spaces the day before, Musk pledged, "I will not sell shares for the next two years," adding, "Under any circumstances, I will not sell next year, and I probably will not sell the year after next."

Musk has previously declared multiple times that he would not sell shares but later reversed his stance. This recent 'pledge' not to sell shares for the next two years has also led to investor distrust, which in turn has driven the stock price down.

Earlier, after selling about $8.5 billion worth of shares in April, Musk tweeted that he would not sell more shares, but subsequently sold $6.9 billion in August and $3.95 billion in November. This month, from the 12th to the 14th, he sold 22 million shares (worth about $3.58 billion) over three days, further increasing the stock price decline.

Regarding breaking his promise not to sell shares multiple times in the past, Musk dodged by saying, "I had to sell some shares to prepare for the worst-case scenario." He also explained that Tesla's share buyback plans next year would depend on the scale of the economic recession, as he expects the economy to fall into a severe downturn and consumer demand to weaken.

When asked whether he would appoint a close associate such as David Sacks, former PayPal Chief Operating Officer (COO), as the next Twitter CEO, Musk avoided a direct answer, claiming that "Twitter management is about 10% as complex as Tesla."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.