Elon Musk’s Social Impact on Tesla Stocks

What’s good for Elon Musk is not necessarily good for investors in Tesla stock. Or, is it? Munch this: the stock jumped 148 per cent from $408.09 on November 16, 2020 to $1,013.39 on November 15, 2021, on the NASDAQ. This jump masks a nuance: $1,013.39 was a 17 per cent slide since November 5. On November 7 (Sunday), Musk’s legion of Twitter followers responded to his ‘poll’ on whether he should sell 10 per cent of his Tesla holdings. The answer was a resounding yes (58 per cent), Musk promptly sold his stock the next day, and the stock promptly tanked. (The stock has since recovered to $1,096 on November 18.) The poll is a novel addition to Musk’s tweets on cryptocurrencies, whose values go up and down like puppets based on what he publicly ‘jokes’. Investors remain on the edge, though, unsure whether their wealth would spike or nosedive the next day.