The stock price for Tesla — South African centibillionaire Elon Musk's electric vehicle company — has continued to tank in financial markets. And some investors are raking in huge windfalls at Tesla's expense.
The Guardian recently reported that while Musk's net worth is still in excess of $300 billion, his stake in Tesla is no longer his most prized asset given the precipitous drop in the company's share price. As of closing time Tuesday, Tesla is trading at just over $225 per share. That's a decline of more than 50% in trading value over just the last three months. Musk's stake in SpaceX has since overtaken his Tesla holdings in value, with the Guardian reporting that the former is now worth about $20 billion more than his Tesla shares.
But at the same time Musk's electric vehicle company has plummeted in value, investors known as "short sellers" — who effectively bet on a company's stock to tank — have hit it big. The Financial Times reported that hedge funds that have taken short positions on $TSLA are now $16.2 billion richer over the past 90 days.
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"Tesla had a very strong brand value and Elon has managed to totally destroy it," said hedge fund manager Per Lekander, who runs a $1.5 billion hedge fund focused on clean energy. "[Musk] is on the wrong side of his buyership. It’s not people with cowboy boots who buy Teslas."
The company's slide is projected to accelerate, with JPMorgan predicting a late December share price of just $120. Investors have been bearish on the electric vehicle company after Tesla sales flatlined in Europe following Musk's endorsement of a far-right German political party. The Tesla CEO has also had to contend with a wave of Tesla Takedown protests at dealerships across the country as Americans outraged over his mass firings of federal workers take to the streets.
Musk's electric vehicle company has experienced a rollercoaster of volatility in its share price, rocketing from approximately $150 per share in the first quarter of 2024 to more than $400 per share after the election as investors hoped to cash in on Musk's proximity to President Donald Trump. But as public outrage over Musk's political activity intensifies, the number of Tesla shares being shorted has spiked by more than 16% compared to last month, according to the Financial Times.
"A lot of these momentum stocks [like Tesla] have become glorified memecoins," short seller Marc Cohodes (who does not have a position on Tesla) told the outlet. "When they went up, everyone buying thought they were smart. Now they’re falling, they’re causing huge damage."
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Click here to read the Financial Times' full article (subscription required).